Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 3

Through the rains of the deluge, a swarm of dots slowly made over the highway east along the Oriculon. They were quarry of a different sort, and Ludmila idly mused over how things had turned out.

The Humans below were one of the many groups that had been encouraged to flee their homes by the Beastmen, yet no Beastmen travelled with them. Due to how the Beastmen ‘managed’ their livestock, very few adults lived past their mid-twenties and anyone deemed unhealthy and unfit were culled regardless of age. As a result, those that remained all travelled at the bare minimum speed that could be expected of healthy, young and fit Humans.

In terms of long-distance endurance, that was a good deal faster than many of the Beastmen. Ludmila’s primary goal during the first few days of their eastern offensive was to shake up the warrior clans’ impressive discipline and organisation, allowing the different races to slowly segregate into ‘waves’ based on their respective travel speeds as they ran for their lives.

Urmah and Nar civilians could only cover about twenty kilometres in a day before falling over in exhaustion. Ocelo could do about thirty. Humans could manage forty kilometres if they went from sunup to sundown. Con, Lup and Gao went anywhere between fifty and sixty.

The first couple of days had been slow, as the flight matched the pace of the Nar and Urmah. Once her forces ran them to exhaustion, however, chaos finally took hold. The Ocelo were overrun over the course of the afternoon, which brought her to the Humans. The rest of the Beastmen were far ahead, including the warrior clans, which had decided to preserve their fighting strength rather than defend a lost cause.

Ludmila descended toward the lead group of Human ‘refugees’, wondering if she could convince them to stop. Even without the presence of their oppressors, they ran regardless for fear of the Undead menace creeping up behind them. She had driven everyone into a thoroughly panicked flight, including the Draconic Kingdom’s citizens…or at least the citizens who had their wits about them.

『You can stop running now.』

A few heads turned to look around for whoever had spoken to them, but everyone continued to trudge along. She landed a few dozen metres in front of them, holding up a hand.

“Out of the way, woman! The Undead are right behind us!”

A man a full head taller than Ludmila came straight at her, uncaring of her words. He bounced off of her like she was a tree and lay stunned on the ground. The throng behind him only seemed to take note of her as a terrain obstacle and flowed around.

Ludmila opened her mouth to speak again, then stopped. She didn’t have time to talk to hundreds of thousands of people spread out across a hundred-kilometre front. Olga and Raul would have an even harder time of it. They needed to finish turning the Humans around before they reached the lake, where the Beastmen based in Corrin-on-the-Lake had likely stationed lookouts.

Well, there’s more than one way to do this…

She looked up to where the ghostly figure of Saiko was observing from above.

『Saiko, summon Blood Meat Hulks a hundred metres ahead of them. Chase these people back west.』

Cries of panic rose as four fleshy abominations rose in a line before the Human wave. The entire mass of people abruptly changed direction like a flock of starlings, flowing around Ludmila as they ran back up the highway again. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to smile or not.

“Pass my orders on to the rest of the front,” she said after she rejoined Saiko in the air. “Don’t run them too hard. They should be safe so long as they keep going west.”

“What of the Undead pushing eastward?” The Elder Lich asked.

“Create gaps for the Humans to flow through. Once they get far enough, they should realise that something doesn’t add up…I hope. This should give us plenty of time to prepare for Corrin-on-the-Lake.”

She turned her gaze to the city in question while Saiko relayed her instructions. Not much could be discerned through the rain aside from its vague outline along the lake. Hopefully, the army’s reconnaissance would be able to provide a better idea of the city’s condition as well as the posture of its defenders.

“Our forces have received your orders, Captain,” Saiko said. “Shall we begin organising our forces for tonight?”

“Yes,” Ludmila nodded. “How is Raul doing down south?”

“The head of the expected Beastman reinforcements has been eliminated at Foca Pass,” the Elder Lich told her. “The remainder will not be able to make it in time for the battle at Corrin-on-the-Lake.”

“Unless there are multiple groups of reinforcements coming out of the mountains further east,” Ludmila said.

How the Beastmen warbands communicated between themselves was one of the things that wasn’t well-documented. Their reactions across the front indicated that they didn’t use any means of instant communication, nor did their hunters appear to use pets like hawks or ravens to deliver information. Her best guess was that they used a system of runners, but that didn’t describe when, where, why and how those runners were dispatched.

Once they were certain they had turned all of the fleeing citizens around, Ludmila and Saiko headed back west to Rivergarden. Several vessels were moored in the harbour, so it appeared that Queen Oriculus had already arrived. After swapping to her civilian garb, Ludmila landed next to the colossal bloodstain in the main plaza where her pyramid of limbless Beastman bodies once stood. The thing just happened to be right in front of the city hall. Lady Entoma was extraordinarily efficient when it came to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s corpse collection efforts…or maybe she was so quick because she wanted fresh bodies to munch on.

She recognised the squad of men who were stationed in front of the entrance as members of Highfort’s garrison, and they saluted smartly at her approach.

“Any problems in the city?” Ludmila asked.

“No, Captain,” the Sergeant answered. “The people that came to Oriculon mentioned that the city had been, uh, decorated, but they might have been exaggerating. All I see are bloodstains. There must have been one heck of a battle in the square here, though.”

“We only caught their rearguard,” Ludmila said. “Most of the fighting has been in the countryside. Is Her Majesty holding court at the moment?”

“Yeah. Local representatives have been coming in and out for the last few hours. Just give me a minute and I’ll have someone let the Captain know you’re here.”

『Lluluvien, are you here?』

『Yes, my lady.』

『I’ve just arrived in the city, but I’m not sure where they decided to stick the general staff.』

『In an office in the city hall.』

『Great. I’m here to let Queen Oriculus know what’s going on.』

『I’ll put together the materials for a presentation, my lady.』

After a short wait, Ludmila was escorted into the city hall, where Lluluvien and a group of Elder Liches met her on the way to the office’s main hall. The space had been rearranged into a makeshift throne room, with the Queen seated on a dais at the far end. Her court was much smaller than Ludmila had last seen it, though that was probably to be expected with so many left behind to handle affairs in the west.

『Hey.』

『Hi.』

『Hello.』

Clara, Liane and Florine were seated on one side of the hall. Lord Tian was present at the Queen’s shoulder. It seemed that the court was simply conducting mundane affairs, else the Sorcerous Kingdom’s delegation would have been asked to wait outside.

Ludmila made her way forward, lowering her head in a curtsey before the throne. The Queen was dressed in a dark dress that seemed to emphasise her slender figure, yet Ludmila felt that she was wearing it for some other reason.

“Welcome back, Baroness,” Queen Oriculus said.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. We’re setting up for the next offensive, so I’ve arrived to brief the court on its details.”

“Umu,” the Queen nodded. “Please do.”

Just as they had in Phelegia, the Elder Liches rolled a map out over the floor and started to place markers upon it. Since the last briefing, the front had lost its original shape. The forces under Olga still maintained their echelon-like configuration as they swept eastward. In the south, Raul’s forces had repositioned to keep the Beastmen from entering the Oriculon Reach.

Ludmila’s forces coming up the centre had divided into two parts. Those on the south side of the river had slowed down as they closed within a dozen kilometres of Corrin-on-the-Lake. North of the river, however, they had already reached the shores of the lake.

“This is the present disposition of our forces, as well as all known Beastman forces. We’ve interdicted all river traffic, so the Beastmen have been cut into two separate groups. As you can see here, the ones in the north have realised that crossing the Oriculon to join their allies at Corrin-on-the-Lake is impossible, so they are now making haste to Eastwatch. By the time we begin our assault, they will be a full day away from Corrin-on-the-Lake.”

She nodded to the Elder Liches, who started advancing the markers. The city lay on the southwestern shores of the lake between its outlet and a major tributary. Traditionally, it made Corrin-on-the-Lake a highly-defensible fortress that was effectively immune to sieges due to its water access. The Sorcerous Kingdom’s Royal Army, however, had many ways to negate that advantage.

“After midnight,” Ludmila continued, “we will begin our assault. The forces on the south side of the river will begin to encircle the walls, staying outside of the defenders’ range. The forces on the north side will march through the lake to the far side of the city. When our encirclement is nearly complete, we will attack the city through its port.”

“Nearly complete?” Marshal Zorlu frowned, “Why not complete the encirclement before attacking?”

“Because we do not mean to complete the encirclement at all,” Ludmila replied. “As with Rivergarden, we’re leaving an avenue for retreat open to minimise damage to the city. The defences of Corrin-on-the-Lake are far more robust, so intense fighting within the city is sure to leave the place in ruins.”

“Once again,” Queen Oriculus said, “We thank you for your consideration of our circumstances, but will they flee so readily? Your previous briefings have mentioned that Corrin-on-the-Lake has become their centre of power. Abandoning it will incur a hefty political cost.”

“I can’t deny that Your Majesty may be correct,” Ludmila said. “They may indeed act outside of tactical prudence. In that situation, I can only say that the entire city is populated by Beastmen, so any collateral damage will be to the city’s infrastructure and not to Your Majesty’s subjects.”

Figuring out how to break the wills of Lord-class Beastmen was an ongoing study. Civilian ones were not much harder than the average Beastman to deal with once one figured out who they were, but the Lords of the warrior clans were much the same as martial Nobles. They were the bastions of their people, and they would sooner die than break. So far, her success with them involved manipulating the circumstances of the theatre so that they would err on the side of prudence or ignorance. Once they decided on something, they invariably dragged their people along.

“In the event that they run,” Queen Oriculus said, “what then? Will it be the same as the north?”

“In essence, yes,” Ludmila replied. “There will be a bit of a gauntlet awaiting them, however. During the deluge, the bridges here and here are the only way to cross those rivers for two dozen or so kilometres. We’ll be holding the first bridge, so the Beastmen are going to be going on a very long run.”

“Is that necessary?” The Queen frowned.

“We expect a high percentage of warriors in Corrin-on-the-Lake, Your Majesty. Letting them take the direct route to Eastwatch will see them rejoining the other half of their forces within two days. We’d like to cut them down to size before they reach the eastern border. It will minimise the number of raids against your borders after your lands have been completely reclaimed.”

“We see. Marshal Zorlu mentioned something about needing time to raise proper reconnaissance patrols that can work in conjunction with the Undead. This is in consideration of that?”

“Just so, Your Majesty. Also, there is one other possibility that we are wary of.”

“What’s that?”

“Reinforcements.”

Queen Oriculus and her court were left blinking after her singular reply. Ludmila cleared her throat, glancing at the area of the map past Eastwatch.

“Given the way we’ve conducted this campaign,” she said, “it stands to reason that the existential threat represented by the Undead will elicit the requisite response. To be frank, Your Majesty, this occupation is the result of a migration. Most tribal migrations represent the dregs or losers of the territory that they came from. With that in mind, it is not unreasonable to believe that something much stronger may come out of the jungle to face the Undead.”

Their ignorance of the Beastman country worked to their disadvantage, in this case. Originally, Clara’s efforts in the Draconic Kingdom were supposed to start just before the summer harvest, so Ilyshn’ish would have had a whole season to investigate the Beastman side of things. The idea that something much stronger than the Beastmen occupying the Draconic Kingdom appearing in response to the ‘Undead horde’ was seen as a welcome challenge by many members of the Royal Army’s general staff, but Ludmila worried over how things might escalate.

They knew too little about the world beyond the ‘bubble’ created by the Slane Theocracy, and Ludmila was now almost certain that it was purposely crafted that way. The Faith of the Six centred around the realisation of humanity’s potential, but there was a stark difference between the version of the faith that Bohdan had brought with him a century previous and the one that dominated the Theocracy of the present day.

If she were to paraphrase it, the Faith of the Six that Ludmila was brought up with saw humanity as one race amongst many – one blessed with the potential to become great through generations of hard work and refinement. They did not have any particular biases against other races beyond what came naturally with territorial competition. Other Humanoid races – such as Elves or Dwarves – were not treated much differently from Humans themselves.

According to what she could piece together, the Faith of the Six in the Theocracy had gone from Human-centric to Human supremacist. That shift in stance was reflected in nearly every facet of its society, from the views of its common folk to the official policies of its government.

Even attitudes toward other Humanoid races had taken a sour turn. Elves were subjected to chattel slavery and Half-Elves were seen as something between filthy mongrels and an affront to the purity of Human existence.

She wasn’t sure why it was that way, but the fact that Surshana had descended in E-Rantel instead of the Theocracy suggested that there was something very wrong going on.

Whatever it was, the regional conditions cultivated by the Theocracy’s actions made for dismal diplomacy between races. Never mind their own diplomacy, they knew absolutely nothing about the Beastmen’s foreign relations aside from the predator-prey relationship that they had with the Draconic Kingdom.

The Royal Army’s general staff didn’t think much of it – and neither did the rest of the Royal Court, for that matter – but the Beastmen’s response to the appearance of the unstoppable Undead horde could very well pull in whatever allies they had in an effort to quell what most of the world would consider a universal threat. It was exactly the sort of start to their diplomatic efforts in the southeast that they were doing everything to avoid.

“This is the strongest that We have ever seen them,” Queen Oriculus said, “so We would hate to see something even stronger come along. Are your forces sufficient to stop a response of far greater magnitude than what Our country is currently facing?”

“It’s difficult to say, Your Majesty,” Ludmila admitted. “Everyone knows that the variety of Beastman that we face is generally stronger than Humans, but we do not know how strong they can become. With how large their territory is, I wouldn’t be strange if there are several exceptionally strong individuals present. Furthermore, a decisive response by the region may bring a coalition army of millions to the border. The existence of the Oriculon grants logistical capabilities that would otherwise be impossible.”

“That would be a calamity,” the Queen frowned down at the map. “Events of that nature have a way of taking a life of their own and growing out of control.”

“I may be a bit late in asking,” Ludmila said, “but have any attempts at diplomacy been made with the Beastmen?”

“Attempts, yes. Successful attempts, no. They seem adamant about their antagonism. Not even Merchants can get through to them.”

They hadn’t even seen any Beastman Merchants. Not any that they could recognise, at any rate.

“Well, it is not an avenue that is available to us at this point anyway,” Ludmila said. “I will see what I can do to mitigate any potential response.”

For the moment, she couldn’t see any way out of it. If the two sides were composed of the living, they might grow weary and simply give up on the conflict after it became too costly to continue. With the Undead, however, they wouldn’t stop until the threat was destroyed because the Undead normally didn’t grant any quarter and would fight to the last Zombie.

“We will see how things look in a few days, then,” Queen Oriculus said. “As for current events, many have volunteered to assist the populations afflicted by the Beastmen’s administration of Laira to the population. They will tend to the citizens and help move them back from the front lines, though, at the rate you’ve been advancing, we could use more people.”

“I believe some people should come screaming in a day or so,” Ludmila said.

“Screaming?” The Queen tilted her head curiously.

“The Beastmen are running scared, but the citizens are similarly running scared. Rather than spending time we do not have to calm them down, we simply sent them running back in this direction. Your Majesty should have a few hundred thousand extra hands to assist with the afflicted.”

“…Sourel.”

“I shall arrange for their reception, Your Majesty,” the Minister of Public Health lowered her head.

The briefing was concluded thirty minutes later, after a small round of questions by concerned Ministers. Most of them asked about the condition of the land and its people, while a few had concerns over security. With the Draconic Kingdom’s Royal Army reduced to a handful of experienced companies and the same number still in training, policing the country was already a challenge without random Beastmen popping up.

Outside the city hall, Ludmila was joined by her friends and they took a stroll around the central plaza. Liane eyed the huge bloodstain as they walked by.

“With it raining so much,” she said, “I gotta wonder how you made that.”

“It’s where the corpses were piled for collection,” Ludmila replied. “Speaking of which, was there anything left by the time you got here?”

“Nope. I went looking around for dismembered limbs to scare Florine with, but I couldn’t find any.”

Florine rolled her eyes. They walked past several pavilions where food and sundries were being distributed to lines of citizens. It didn’t seem like any of them were dwelling on the past, instead idly chatting about the work ahead of them as they awaited their turn.

“Something doesn’t add up here,” Liane said. “What do you think, Ludmila?”

“If it has to do with Merchants, politics or anything else on that side of things,” Ludmila replied, “you’re asking the wrong person. I haven’t noted any logistical issues.”

“It has more to do with running a territory. The Queen’s promised all sorts of things and I cannot for the life of me figure out how she plans on doing most of it.”

“Didn’t Clara’s research note how extraordinarily productive the Draconic Kingdom was?”

“Yeah, but that’s with a functional population. The way it looks right now, a third of the people are going to be tied up looking after another third of the people while the remaining third are mostly apprentices and journeymen.”

“I think they’ll be alright.”

Liane turned a dubious look at her.

“How do you figure?”

“A feeling,” Ludmila said. “I’ve spent weeks flying over the land and taking everything in, and I don’t find any imminent issues surrounding their ability to support themselves.”

“The Draconic Kingdom may have one major issue brewing,” Clara said. “I’m uncertain if you’ve noticed it yet.”

“All I see are issues,” Liane said. “Which one is it?”

They made their way out of the plaza, following the main thoroughfare leading to Rivergarden’s eastern gate.

“Hmm…how do I put this,” Clara said. “How do the residential and urban arrangements in Warden’s Vale compare to those in your county?”

“Uh…they’re a lot better?” Liane said, “Ludmila cheated though.”

“Maybe, but why are they so much better?”

“Because attracting tenants to her demesne sucks.”

“And why did she need tenants?”

“Because she had a labour shortage,” Liane replied, then frowned. “Oh, wow.”

“That’s right,” Clara smirked. “You’ve been focused on the Royal Court and the Merchants, but, if the Draconic Kingdom refuses to utilise Undead labour, the common folk are going to have tremendous bargaining power for the next generation or two. What changes those generations bring may end up being permanent.”

Was that what she did? Retain power relative to her subjects by consolidating Undead labour under her house? At the time, the only thing on her mind was working with the new administration and securing labour for her depopulated demesne. However, one might look back and claim that she was driven by greed or the desire for power.

“I dunno if it’ll work like that here,” Liane said after a few moments. “The people are fanatically loyal. It’s more than a bit creepy.”

“Our people are loyal, too,” Florine said.

“Yeah, but they’re loyal for understandable reasons. I’m not sure if they would be as loyal if things weren’t going so well, never mind getting raided and eaten on the regular.”

“What Clara suggests is probably happening,” Ludmila said. “Queen Oriculus’ subjects are loyal to their sovereign, but that loyalty is defined by what they are. They’re not charmed or coerced into being loyal no more than our subjects are, and they have desires and goals of their own. Her court seems more than aware of how that loyalty is framed, as well. You can see them preempting it in the incentives that they’ve been offering and the various initiatives that have been enacted.”

Many of those initiatives were unthinkable in the north. For instance, if a territory was depopulated by a Demihuman raid in Re-Estize, either one or both of two things would happen. On the management side, they would actively seek migrants from the nearby urban centres. On the tenant side, it was an opportunity to redraw lines and consolidate titles, creating all sorts of tensions.

In the Draconic Kingdom, however, the government simply said ‘it’s harem time!’ and everyone jumped on the polygamy wagon. There was no deliberation over land distribution: only an action with a result. Not only were the Draconic Kingdom’s leadership and citizens extremely resilient – they were also extraordinarily flexible. That adaptability was likely one of the major cornerstones to the country’s survival in such adverse circumstances.

They reached the eastern gate of Rivergarden a few minutes later, and Ludmila turned to face her friends.

“Were there any last-minute things to bring to my attention?” She asked.

“Not that I can think of,” Clara said. “After you push the Beastmen out of the kingdom, most of the work will be on our end.”

“Unless she gets that army of millions that she was talking about,” Liane said.

“Would that really happen?” Florine frowned.

“Not right away,” Ludmila said, “but it’s entirely possible. I flew over the Beastmen’s territory with Ilyshn’ish the other day and it’s huge. I’m pretty sure we didn’t even get halfway and we still covered enough territory to engulf both Re-Estize and Baharuth at the same time. These raids that the Draconic Kingdom experiences are likely conducted by just the clans on the border.”

“Does that mean diplomacy is actually possible?” Florine said, “It may be that the only ones who harbour the ‘raider’ mindset are the Beastmen on the border, and we’ll have better luck dealing with those further inside the country.”

Florine’s experience working with Demihumans in the forests around the Azerlisia Mountains had broadened her perspective tremendously. The average person associated non-Humans by race rather than their specific social groupings. It didn’t make much sense, but if someone had a bad experience with a Goblin, they would go for the rest of their lives hating all Goblins. One could teleport a Goblin from the other side of the continent in front of them and they would still blame that Goblin for everything that all Goblins had done.

“Once Ilyshn’ish gets back,” Ludmila said, “we’ll have a better idea of how things are over there. If anything, they’ll be forced to talk because the Undead will be preventing them from doing anything else here.”

“I can already smell the rare resources they have stashed away in that jungle,” Liane said.

Ludmila snorted. Merchants truly were a breed of their own.

“One thing at a time, Liane,” she said. “First, I have a city to conquer.”

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