Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 234: War Justification

CH234 War Justification

***

Back on the battlefield, the raiders used their swifter mounts to slip away from the Fury warrior formations.

Reluctantly, the Warrior Regiment Commander ordered his men to abandon the chase and regroup with the cavalry before returning to camp.

The sight that greeted them was grim.

The camp had suffered heavy losses.

From an original five thousand soldiers at the start of the campaign through Kellerman lands, Exercitus Alexii had already been reduced to around four thousand three hundred after weeks of rooting out Wildkin groups.

Of these, three thousand were stationed in the main camp while the rest had been split into the hidden units.

Now, after the raid, fewer than two thousand remained in the camp. Altogether, only three thousand five hundred soldiers were left in the Taskforce Division.

In other words, a single night raid had cost them nearly as many men as the entire campaign so far.

The Regiment Commanders’ faces were dark with shame. This would forever be a black mark on their record.

Worse, it meant that the very first battle since General Alex Fury ceded command to his supposedly more experienced officers had ended in heavier losses than under the youth’s leadership.

And to top it off—it had all happened in the presence of the Fury Family Head himself.

They had thought of protesting the Orc Chieftain’s shameless betrayal of the duel agreement, but the thought died quickly. After all, hadn’t they planned the very same thing if they lost? The Orc Chief had simply beaten them to it.

Now, the four commanders stood in the command tent, heads bowed like chastised children before the still-disguised/full-armoured Earl Drake Fury.

The Mad Earl had been lost in thought about something else entirely, only noticing their downcast expressions belatedly. Realising they had misinterpreted his silence, he still chose not to correct them.

Instead, he said casually,

”I think you’ve learned something valuable today. If you plan to double-cross someone, you’d best be ready to be double-crossed in turn.”

The commanders’ fists clenched as they ground their teeth, silently cursing the Orc Chief who had become the cause of the Mad Earl’s barbed remark.

”Either that Chieftain is far more cunning than we expected,” Drake continued, ”or else someone has been feeding him information about our deployments. Either way, your stalling plan is over. You’ll have to speed things up and take the city quickly.”

He shifted his gaze to the Warrior Regiment Commander.

”How fares the boy’s plan?”

”We’ve secured a route. My men are infiltrating as we speak.”

Drake gave a noncommittal nod. ”Then let’s hope the ones you sent are truly skilled.”

The commander’s expression stiffened. He understood perfectly what Earl Drake was implying.

If the hidden groups’ movements had already been noticed prior to the Wildkin raid, then their secret infiltration unit might also have been discovered. And since those soldiers couldn’t receive messages except for the final signal to commence operation, all he could do now was pray they were as good—or better—than he believed.

”Send word to your General that no more time can be bought. Prepare your men. You must take the city as soon as possible.”

The commanders bowed in acknowledgement and left the tent to ready the army.

Once alone, Drake turned his eyes toward Fury lands.

’Looks like your opponents won’t let your plan unfold as smoothly as you hoped, my boy. So tell me... what will you do now?’

An amused smile tugged at his lips.

Hundreds of kilometres away, in the wilderness between Fury and Kellerman lands, four days after they left the Northern Dankrot Fort, Alex held his own officer’s meeting.

He had just finished laying out the true situation behind the Kellerman fief conflict.

Colonel Conrad Hoist already knew part of it from the officers’ briefing at the fort before Exercitus Alexii set out, but for Major Aldrich Jaeger, Laura Fury, and Lieutenant Kain Cross, the revelation landed like a thunderclap.

”General... you’re saying the Kellermans plan to stab us in the back while we’re busy driving the Wildkin from their lands?” Major Jaeger asked, his voice strained with disbelief.

”Yes.” Alex’s tone was flat, leaving no room for doubt. ”The Kellermans orchestrated this Wildkin invasion to weaken us before launching their own attack.”

The Major stared. ”But—are they even allowed to do that? Don’t they need some sort of justification?”

That was the question written across everyone’s face.

Colonel Hoist’s face was even more grim than always, Cross frowned darkly, and Laura gave the barest nod.

”The need for justification in war isn’t nearly as strict as you think,” Alex replied. ”There’s longstanding bad blood between our families. They can dredge up any number of excuses if need be.

”If they’re desperate enough, they could even claim we caused or allowed this Wildkin raid.”

Silence followed.

Alex didn’t mention it to them, but he was certain the Kellermans weren’t acting alone. If they dared flirt with the Empire’s deepest taboos—such as tolerating goblin proliferation—then they must have powerful backing.

Whoever stood behind them must be strong enough to shield them from the political fallout.

And that thought led to a darker one.

What truly worried him was the growing rift between Drake and his so-called backers, the Machholt Grand Duchy.

Alex didn’t believe for a moment that a Grand Duchy, one of the Empire’s oldest and most entrenched powers—whose history goes back to the time of the Empire’s founding—would ever fail to expect that a free-bound mercenary and scion of a rebellious lineage would move to slip from their leash.

In fact, he would rather believe that they must already suspect Drake was up to something. Even if they hadn’t yet uncovered his schemes, they must be waiting.

If the Kellermans and their backers played it right, they could turn the Machholts against the Fury family.

With the Machholts supporting their guise of ”justice” to justify stripping away Fury lands, the Kellermans would gain their prize while the Machholts replace or tightened their leash on Drake’s neck.

Alex pushed these thoughts aside for now. Dwelling on them now served no purpose.

”The nobility circle isn’t as honourable or law-bound as it pretends,” he told his officers firmly. ”This will happen whether it should or not. Our task is not to whine about it but to do our part to foil it.”

One by one, the others nodded.

”Good.” Alex allowed himself a small nod of satisfaction. He spread a map of the Empire’s northwest across the table.

”Here’s the situation,” he said, his voice steady and commanding. ”And our objective...”

***