(3rd PoV)
Everyone is tense, but there is nothing that can be done. The Monster tide is upon them and what they could do was to fight the monsters with everything that they got.
Luckily, people do know that sometimes the estimations are wrong and the tides may occur before the estimated date. So the defences are already up.
What the defence line was missing were the people who were supposed to hold the line.
Since it was supposed to happen the next day, no one was outside, except for the ones that were on duty. Everyone else was taking a rest so that they would be at their peak when they would fight the monsters the next day.
This was a situation that was not expected but was something they were dealt with.
Now, they have only two choices fight or flee.
If they fight, before others can come, there is a chance that they will die. Deaths in a monster tide are common but the probability of death at this point is very high, unlike when everyone is here.
They can flee but they would be forever recorded as cowards and no one would ever would like to work with them in the future. No work would mean no money and without having money, it would be difficult to live a life.
Sure one can hunt monsters but they won't be able to sell them to the guilds as they would blacklist anyone who would fail to do their job. Whether that would be permanent or temporary would be on many factors but abandoning before a battle would definitely be a permanent blacklist.
So they can only sell the hunted monster corpses to shops but merchants are known to haggle a lot. It means the gains through such transactions would be very low. Discover hidden stories at m,v l'e-novelhall.net
If there were no one who depends on that dead one, it would be better but that would never be the case.
It may appear cruel but this assignment is voluntary and moreover, if the kingdom thinks about every death and how to prevent that, the kingdom may have to file for bankruptcy.
Though such a term may not exist here, such happenings are not non-existent. Kingdoms could fall if they invest too much in every thing that is considered to be the right thing to do. It's not like they won't but they can't do that.
If the world was less dangerous and was at peace, maybe they should be investing in that but that's not the case. If they stupidly do things like that, their treasury would dry up and that means the rulers have to increase taxes.
Increasing taxes means discontent among the people. Increased discontentment means, chances of an increase in traitors, bandits or rebels. None of these are considered good.
As a commander of battle, he was privy to such information. he knew that because of the discrepancies, there would be a lot of deaths, but if deserters appeared, the number would grow beyond controllable.
After that, even if the monster tide was stopped, it wouldn't be a win for the kingdom.
Even if the kingdom doesn't bat their eyes over a few deaths wouldn't mean that the kingdom wants to lose its fighting forces. The military may be the main fighting force but they are securing borders from enemy nations. They can't stop anything that's happening in the inside of the kingdom.
For that, adventurers are required.
Every now and then, they would go out and hunt monsters. It would usually keep their population in check or else there would be more monster tides than before.
Losing too many of her may cause a domino effect, causing more deaths in the future. This is absolutely not something the kingdom wants.
So the commander has to raise the morale or instill fear in them from deserting and reduce teh deaths as much as possible.