Gamer Reborn Chapter 648

Army headquarters

“Archduke Warborne, Sir!” A soldier salutes as he places scroll after scroll with reports.

“Skip the formalities and give the updates.” The high general of the Republic army commands as the rest of his advisors swarm the supplied reports.

“The forces of Gryndor did a lot to relieve the pressure with the enemy strike forces slipping past the front lines and attacking supply caravans and villages.” The ssenger was a captain in the army so he was composed and experienced enough to deliver the relevant updates. “Unfortunately the swing in montum and the capture of Redfang caused the beastkin to go on the offensive in all of our entrenched battlefields in a way we weren’t expecting.”

The archduke bit back a curse, this explained the high number of scrolls that were just delivered. It had been less than a week since Gryndor’s champions had joined the fighting and he was hoping they would give them the numbers they needed to give the wounded champions and squads the breaks they needed before ending this war once they were back on their feet.

“How bad was it?” Warborne asked but a simple glance towards the rest of his aids told him already what he would hear.

“The results were mixed.” The captain reported. “All the battlefields ended with the enemy withdrawing after a fight between champion level assets took place but each of the four battlefields had different outcos.”

“Which one was the worst hit?” The high general asked.

“Ironwood, sir.” The words caused the high general to bite back a curse, there was only one champion stationed there and three squads for support. They were sending two of Gryndor’s champions as well as the mostly recovered Shadow to replace them and start a counterattack from that point but the attack had to have happened before they arrived. “We lost half the mbers of two squads and Champion Deepbellow lost his right arm along with a few other deep injuries.”

The archduke didn’t bother restraining himself as he picked up a chair and smashed it against the ground turning the wood into splinters, he could restrain himself of course but he knew that not only was it not needed among his advisors since they were all trusted people. More than that his show of emotion would actually be beneficial for morale and performance among his aides as they would have clear evidence of how much he does care for his people.

“Is there any risk to the dungeon?” The archduke asked. Ironwood beca a holdout because of the dungeon being right behind it.

“No, sir.” The captain replied. “The reinforcents have arrived and whilst the losses are large they can hold the line. We are moving our spies to keep an eye out for any champion movent indicating them sending more there but as always they are hard to pin down.”

“Alright, what requires our attention right now?” The archduke pulled another chair for himself from the spacial ring and pretended not to notice the remains of his old one being swept up, it wasn’t the first and he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last before the war was over.

“There is a… situation with the main road.” The captain had an awkward look on his face.

“What situation?” one of the aides reading the report on that battle asked. “We took minimal losses. Their champions took heavy injuries and our squads and injured champions are almost here to recover.”

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“It’s in the follow up report.” The captain let out a sigh. “The dragon wasn’t happy letting the enemy retreat so he chased after them.”

“They injured the dragon?” almost all the aides stopped what they were reading and started trying to find the report in question in the ss of scrolls.

“No, there were almost no injuries besides a few scratches.” The captain denied. “The issue is the dragon captured a prisoner.”

“How is that an issue?”the archduke asked.

“The prisoner was a mber of the squad the enemy champions brought with them. Specifically the heir of Archduke Ivoryspear.” All movents stopped at the na Archduke Ivoryspear, he was a feared battlefield commander, he wasn’t a war strategist but he excelled at split second decisions that could an the difference between victory and defeat in the heat of battle for a force of thousands.

“That prisoner could make for a valuable trade, why does it need our imdiate attention?” Archduke Warborne asked, he had regained his composure fully and could tell there was more to the situation. “Is the kid, Ajax Hearthbound was his na, being a pain about it? Does he want to trade the prisoner himself to the enemy for personal gain?”

The archduke had to admit that even if that was the case Ajax would have solid ground for the request after all his bond had chased after the fight had been declared over and took damage, even if it was only superficial, to capture the prisoner.

“It’s not the duke that’s the issue, sir.” Warborne was surprised, it seed whatever part Ajax Hearthbound had played during the conflict had been enough to gain him so respect from those that learnt about it, since the captain hadn’t been read in on his first combat it ant it was all from the recent battle. “He gave up the prisoner pretty easily, all he asked was that any trade made was for assets of the sa power level.”

Murmurs of agreent rose from the aides, all of them praising Ajax’s foresight. Until now the beastkin had executed any champion level assets so holding one for ransom like this would force them to spare so of their own in order to offer them for a trade, that ant they would also have a chance to free them even if a trade never happened.

“Where is the issue?” Warborne had a bad feeling when he heard Ajax’s not only reasonable but even smart request.

The rest of the explanation was enough to give the entire command tent a headache. Ajax’s complete detachnt from the matter was the only part of good news they got. Hearing that Aranor was looking into the request being followed wouldn’t have been much of an issue if it wasn’t for Regis and Duke Fieldwealth.

Duke Fieldwealth wasn’t all that powerful of a force when it ca to politics, money or even power. The one issue was that Duke Fieldwealth was the source of almost a third of the country's food supply. The council had been taking steps to diminish his monopoly on food before the war started but they hadn’t had the chance to act on it. Worse yet was that all his lands were in the north of the Republic so they hadn’t been at all affected by the war aning he was now at least half the supply of food for the nation and more than two thirds of the army's food supply.

“Does Duke Fieldwealth know?” Warborne asked, there was a reason he was the high general for the army, he knew strategy and could handle politics but he was already considering reaching out to Archduke Goldenmouth to help smooth out the issue.

“If he doesn’t know yet I doubt it will be long before word from Regis reaches him.” The captain reported.

“Start going over everything else and leave this matter to .” Archduke Warborne said as he stood up and started walking towards his own private tent. “Thank you for your report captain.”

With a nod the captain was dismissed and while looking a little uneasy the rest of the general moved on to all the other battlefields and other reports that needed their attention, though in the back of their mind their thoughts kept going back to the issue with their newest high value prisoner and Duke Fieldwealth.

Once he was on his own the archduke poured himself a glass of brandy and knocked it back in a single gulp enjoying the burning feeling on the back of his throat before pouring a second glass for himself to sip from.

The whole situation was ugly. Duke Fieldwealth would be on the warpath to make the trade as soon as word got to him so he was already expecting a ssage, worse yet Archduke Ivoryspear wasn’t part of the initial coup according to information they had been able to gather so killing his heir along with the possible loss of his House back in the beastkin lands might cause him to beco more bloodthirsty and force engagents to beco a bloodbath on their largest battlefield.

Making the trade on the other hand would put them at odds with not only Ajax Hearthbound and his dragon, who were looking like they were going to beco the most influential existances in all the kingdoms within the century but also Aranor Starfury, the oldest and most destructive champion taking part in the war. Worse yet both Ajax and Aranor were support sent by Sylvanthal and Gryndor and not under direct Republic command. Even if they wanted to make the trade with both of them there they could simply have the dragon sit on the Ivoryspear heir and then what could they do, attack their own champions?

The one piece of good news for Archduke Warborne was that while Aranor seed to be following what was happening with the prisoner closely, Ajax had instead chosen to focus on his training. Apparently he had recently returned from a trip to the Wild Lands where he had t his bond missing an arm and was still absorbing the gains made during the trip.