Firstborn: Return of the heir

“Sir, we encountered enemies in the fifth, seventh and eleventh sectors. While in the first two we managed to route the opposition in a matter of just a few moments…”

Even though Saulus wasn’t known for punishing messengers for bringing bad news, the soldier still hesitated to break down the unpleasant part of the report.

“They were massacred, am I right?”

Casting a quick glance into the deeper part of the commanding tent, Saulus attempted to hide how hard he was clenching his teeth while saying that. He, as the general, had to always appear as the calm amidst the storm. He had to appear as someone who wouldn’t lose his temper over the losses, opting instead to focus on stopping those losses from growing.

As sympathetic as one could be, who would want to be commanded by someone who would lose their wits once the first blood appeared? While it didn’t speak nicely about humanity at all, most of the soldiers always prefered to have a ruthless bastard in command. When one’s life turned out to be at risk, no one would bother to care about morals. Only effectiveness counted.

“Sir, not all of them but… We lost nearly half a company’s worth of people there.”

Nodding his head with fear written all over his face, the soldier confirmed Saulus’ guess. But contrary to his terror-born expectations, the general didn’t fly into a rage.

“I know you are tired from the journey, but I will need you to do just a little bit more.”

Standing up from his simple, wooden chair, Saulus moved past the map with an insane number of lots and figures. For the strategic headquarters of any army, this kind of maquette was akin to what a sword was in the hand of a simple soldier.

“On your order, sir!”

Hiding a huge sigh of relief, the soldier saluted with his fist to his chest, springing up at attention.

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“Go to the eleventh sector… Oh, before that. Did they manage to take the place?”

Shaking his head in order to cast away the thoughts that muddled his perception, Saulus looked over at the map. With just a single glance he located the special symbol marking the place he was speaking with the messenger about.

“Yes, sir!”

Replying in one instant, the soldier had to take a while to notice the taxing glance of his commander.

“I… I think so, sir.”

After a moment of hesitation, the young courier slightly changed his report with a breaking voice.

Just as expected… These people are really inexperienced. Forcefully stopping himself from comparing what he could do with his first legion and what he was limited to with the second, Saulus forced his thoughts back on track.

“Then go to the quartermaster’s camp. Order the…”

Taking a quick glance at the map, the young general focused on the small trinkets that marked the presence of different units that the second legion and volunteer corps split into. After confirming what he wanted, Saulus’ sight moved back at the messenger.

“Pass the order to move the Blue Gryphons unit to that sector. If it’s still held by the enemies, just burn it down. If it’s in our hands already, leave the Gryphons to guard it while bringing the unit with casualties back to the concentration point.”

Once the order was given, the young soldier filling in as a courier quickly saluted and left the headquarters camp. Watching after his figure shrinking in the distance, Saulus released a long sigh before turning his attention back to the work.

“If he doesn’t die from some stray arrow or in some random skirmish… I think he might grow up to be a splendid soldier.”

Watching the back of the man who was most likely only about one or two years younger than him, Saulus uttered under his breath.

“Why? Because he’s quick?”

Appearing from the back entrance of the huge tent, Gabriel placed two cups that he brought with, on the small table.

“No, because he doesn’t see me as a legend, but as a bloodthirsty monster. That means he isn’t naive enough to die a meaningless death.”

Cutting the small talk with this depressing sentence, Saulus approached the small stool and took the cup that he requested from his old friend a few moments ago.

“Bad news?”

Instead of taking the rude behaviour of his general personally, the old officer only angled his head to the side before asking. He knew Saulus long enough to understand the inner workings of his head.

“Kind of. We took huge losses while taking the eleventh sector. In fact, I’m not even sure we managed to claim it.”

Taking a sip of wine from his cup had a blessing effect on the general. As if all the worries were washed away by the delicate alcoholic drink, Saulus’ face relaxed a bit.

“It’s not like I didn’t expect for it to happen. In fact, this kind of situation is the very reason behind this entire operation… But as easy as it is to add numbers to the casualty count, I can’t help but worry. Aren’t we racking the losses a bit too fast?”

While the general aim of their entire strategy was to march down on the city of Mengia in order to take control of the most important crossroads in the entire province, it wasn’t something that could be done casually. With how they were basically a newly-emerging power on the map, Saulus had no other choice but to wrestle control of all the small locations around the area of the city before actually attacking it.

“It’s better for them to grow quickly now, rather than having most of our troops die out in the siege. Don’t forget that ultimately, this is the less costly path to victory.”

While the usual ban on information was still in place, Gabriel was perfectly aware of all the details of the mission he was working to fulfill. In fact, he was the one to take the burden off Saulus’ shoulders by proposing this kind of method of tempering the spirit of their soldiers.

But that didn’t take any guilt off Saulus’ soul. Thankfully, he was way beyond the point of caring about the gutter that his guilty conscience was in. With everything he did so far, just a few hundred more dead didn’t affect the overall count all that much. On the other hand, if by sacrificing hundreds he could save thousands, then as a general, he could consider this mission to be a great success!

“I know. The fact that we are just a day’s march away from Mengia is putting me in a foul mood. To be honest, planning everything out from the safety of the capital was far more interesting than actually going through with those plans.”

Taking another sip before falling powerlessly down on his simple throne, Saulus cast his eyes at the map. At first, Gabriel patiently waited for the general to react in any way, but after quite a long while had passed with the young man seemingly deep in thought, the old veteran decided to take the matters into his own hands.

“Sir, once we confirm that the eleventh sector is in our hands…”

Waking up from his daze as rapidly as he fell into it, Saulus looked at his subordinate. This far into the conflict, Saulus knew all the details of the map by heart. He didn’t even need to look at the maquette to picture the situation on a greater scale.

“We will be ready to advance, I know.”

Turning his head back to its natural position, Saulus picked up a thin but long wooden stick from beside his chair. Moving it over to the maquette, he used its dull end to push the trinket symbolizing the core of their forces. From its current location at their rallying point to the piece of stone marking the city they were about to conquer, this simple motion on the map would later translate to a day’s march for the legionaries.

“We are just one day away from Mengia. That means the enemy already knows we are in for a fight here. After taking Aldo, I didn’t expect this kind of suspense to get to me anymore.”

Shaking his hair with a dry smile, Saulus dropped the stick out of his hand before standing up and approaching the maquette. Given how hard it was to transport it, it would be burned down to cinders and remade once their camp would move to the city walls.

And that was one of the reasons why Gabriel didn’t try to stop his general from smashing his fist against the stone that marked the location of the city.

“A day away from the place where the fate of rebellion will be decided. Thinking about this, I’m not sure if you noticed one thing.”

As if slamming his fist against the delicate, oiled paper of the maquette managed to calm his emotions down, Saulus managed to reveal a mysterious smile. The very first sign of emotion different from boredom or anxiety today.

“What, sir?”

Unsure what he could be speaking about, Gabriel took a sip of his wine before asking.

“Isn’t it strange how absolutely nothing of importance happens when the fate of the world is changing? Look at us now. Tomorrow we will march to decide our fates. Right now, we are finishing all of our strategic preparations. But did anything huge actually happen today? Nothing at all.”

Taking another sip from his cup, Saulus smiled at his own thoughts.

“Curious, isn’t it?”