Chapter 405 - Reports (Patreon)

Notes :

Had some issues with my PC. They seemed to have been fixed, at the last minute.

Chapter 405

Red Sands Desert, Aurorean Empire

Rebirth

Allya sighed as she looked at the mess of papers on her desk.

Most of it wasn't administrative this time. It was correspondence. Just piles and piles and piles of correspondence from everyone important enough for their messages to make it past Camille.

Monarchs, presidents, ministers...everyone at the head of a nation or speaking on their behalf wanted a word with her. Most of it was just more thorough introductions. She'd gotten a lot of attention when she'd become an archduchess and started the summit, but it had increased tenfold once Crystal crowned her Empress and the guild laid destroyed at her feet.

She had, in the span of a week, gone from 'regional warlord on an isolated continent' to 'second most powerful woman on Alcheryos, DO NOT PISS OFF'.

Needless to say, she suddenly had a lot of new 'friends' in the court of effectively every government on Alcheryos. There was more bootlicking in that single pile than her entire life before she'd met Alexandra, and she had been a Knight-Valiant. As well as a scion of one of the most powerful noble houses in the Eris Empire.

Not that some people didn't legitimately like what she was doing of course. But they were drowned in the noise of everyone else falling all over themselves to assure her of their good wishes and undying friendship.

She did have a few reports as well, from members of her council. Most of it was as expected. Damage reports on the city. Casualty tallies. Those were especially depressing. Clean and precise as Alexandra and Ghost had been, they'd still fought a running battle with heavy artillery inside a city. The final guild cache especially, the one Ghost had to flatten a whole block to silence, had added plenty to the death toll.

And the guild had enabled area of effect soul sealing devices. So many of those people wouldn't be coming back either.

The Empire's popularity metrics were...interesting however. Obviously, how enthusiastic the population was to the new nation was critical, and they'd started gathering data on it as soon as the official announcements were out.

Unsurprisingly, the population in the Empire's core territories, Rebirth, Erakis and Darthar, was one hundred percent for it. Even after her bombing her own damned capital, people still wholly supported her, laying the blame squarely at the guild's feet. Sarth's enthusiasm was more muted by overwhelming nonetheless. Kaidan and Lorenz's approval of the idea were so high it almost reached unanimity.

The territories remaining under the Crown -it was still insane to her that she'd de facto cut the Kingdom in half and they'd joined her anyway- were a bit more mixed. Molro was extremely happy about it, for what was left of the duchy anyway, and attitudes were generally positive in Asaria as well, though a lot more worried, as the Kingdom's elite and its more wealthy strata that concentrated in the capital worried about the potential to be economically and politically dominated by the Empire.

Sunrise...Sunrise was a mess. The approval of the new Empire itself was extremely high, but people were pissed they were under the Asarian Crown still and not directly under Imperial control. That was going to become a huge problem if they weren't careful about it, and Allya made a mental note to talk to Philia about that.

Going south, the New Republic's reaction was the most skeptical by a considerable margin. Thankfully, integrating Tark had bought them a lot of points. With the Hegemony poised to help and peacefully trade, and not conquer a solid chunk of the country, it gave Amelia a lot of the prestige she'd lost making her revolutionary government a vassal state. Say what you will about the people of the Republic, they were proud of their homeland and its history, which included its revolt against the Sapphire Kingdom and subsequent independence. The Autonomous Province of Eternity was ecstatic, finally having its independence, even if only sort of, and popular sentiment was running high, especially as it no longer looked as if they were about to be caught in a horrific crossfire.

The Hegemony...the population was all for it. Were there reservations? Sure. But the relief had been palpable. The parties still hadn't died down.

No one had really been willing to voice it outright, but everyone had been terrified that this would end in a full scale war between the Hegemony and the New Republic, which would inevitably drag Rebirth into it. The fact that they were now on the same side had been a huge relief for many.

Plus, the Hegemony had lived under the existential threat of the Republic for generations. Their society was finally going to be able to release that pressure which...might cause some problems. Military rule in the Hegemony had been born out of sheer necessity, and in the years to come calls to go back to civilian government would start growing louder.

At least for now, the announcement that the Empire would pay for the military buildup and take over its military was most welcome. Finding the money to pay for it had also been staggeringly easy.

With the adventurers guild dismantled, her core income stream, delve taxes, had effectively doubled, as she pocketed the share the guild had.

Of course, expenses had gone up, picking up all the stuff the guild paid for, but still. It was a massive boon, and the Hegemony, which had been on the verge of recession if not for its armament programs, was set to positively boom. She, after all, needed to rebuild two thirds of a Kingdom and bring the core of her Empire to a new age. There would be more contracts than the Hegemony's entire industrial base could cover in a century.

Which brought her to Gorromar. They were cornered, and they knew it. She now controlled every trade route in and out of the city state. At the same time, they were also the only military that could hope to stand up to her on the continent.

But they had a foot in the door, with the negotiation of the new trade route for dungeon raw materials, replacing Sunrise's slave mined ore, and they were building more airship docking towers. Not just in Rebirth, but towers were being built in Darthar, Erakis -the traffic rapidly increasing beyond the capacity of the Republic built one there- and the groundwork was being laid for one in Sarth.

They knew that the way out was to become essential to the Empire's growth, and their negotiators were ready to play that to the hilt.

Of course, that was the government. The people there were fairly isolationist and considered everyone uncouth barbarians. Their reaction to the Empire's founding had mostly been a shrug.

The Far Reach on their end was...weird. On the one hand? Very glad the long, grinding war of attrition with the Republic and its bloody dance of raids and punitive expeditions was over.

On the other? They were pissed that she'd declared war on the Sapphire Kingdom. On the entire continent, they alone had not rebelled against its rule, and instead been released from it when it became clear the Kingdom's hold on the continent was gone. They were loyal to a fault and the only reason this hadn't turned into outright hostility towards her was because the UDC attacked first.

As for the Sapphire Kingdom itself, the news had caused disbelief to outright panic, depending on how well people could read the strategic situation.

Most of the population took their defenses to be impenetrable to all but raiding parties as an article of faith. Which, to be fair, had been true for centuries. The Barrier Mountains richly deserved their name and were de facto impassable by any large scale force. The Asarians had tried for almost a millennia. The only large crossing point below the permanent snowline was Southmarch, and the Kingdom had plugged it with a fortress so large only Pavrow surpassed it. And while Pavrow relied on huge concrete walls and Old World skyscrapers to use as conventional defenses, making it weak to a technologically superior foe, Southmarch was an arcane fortress par excellence. The entire city was covered in energy shields, and the entire area was dotted with arcane amplification shrines, tesla towers and other goodies.

Advanced weapons were more cost effective than magic, but it couldn't outclass it. Ever. A howitzer was cheaper, easier to make and faster to build and train personnel for than its arcane equivalent, but it could be matched.

Southmarch could be taken. But it would be a grim battle of attrition. And that was without the UDC throwing its hat into the ring which, let's face it, was basically a certainty now. They hadn't bothered with any official announcements, but everyone knew what had to have happened under that tent.

So the real question was, what insane bullshit was Alexandra going to come up to overcome her enemies with this time?

And what was going to come out of those secret letters she'd gotten from members of the Council of Archmages?

*****

Alexandra sighed as she sat down in the command center, her coterie of AIs and vampires arrayed around her.

"Alright. Let's start with the obvious. Ghost, Seraph, how are our troops looking?"

Seraph stepped forward.

"The damage was consequential, but not catastrophic. As expected, the adventurers guild focused on the heavy armor and only engaged the infantry when strictly necessary. Our jetpack assault battalions have suffered the highest casualties, with several of them no longer combat effective. The worse casualties for the normal infantry were suffered during the running battle with the guild's power armor units."

Alexandra looked at Ghost, who shrugged.

"I used them to pin the guild's infantry and then simply overwhelm them."

"A good tactic. Where does that leave us in terms of troops left?"

"Fifty thousand golems remain. A further three thousand may be salvaged from the fallen." Said Seraph, and Alexandra winced. She had the advantage of surprise, had overwhelming artillery support and had gotten the first hit in by vaporizing three of the guild's four weapon caches. And she'd still lost a sixth of her entire army.

"Alright. And the armored units?"

"The tanks losses were minimal. Four were rendered inoperable, but they are recoverable. The Mackies on the other hand...Seven are down, and the five remaining are heavily damaged. However, due to being destroyed by railguns, all should be salvageable. Their critical systems were taken out, but their structural integrity as a whole is still good, and most of their secondary systems and weapons are effectively untouched."

That was something Alexandra had found fascinating. The guild had not sought to rip her Mackies' weapons off or destroy their ammo storage, instead directly aiming for the electronics. The number of hits most had taken showed they had no idea which systems would kill the mechs, but they did know where the various electronics were.

"Good. Time to get them back on their feet?"

"One week, tops." Said Ghost. "Same for the infantry. By that time, we'll have another way of troops ready to go, and we'll actually head out with more troops than we started. If we salvage as many as we expect...around eighty thousand infantry, fifteen Mackies."

After all, they had lost a sixth of the infantry...but this entire army had been built in a single month.

A week of wait meant a quarter more troops. Well, a bit more, since a fair amount of her production had also been diverted to reinforce Rebirth and her mesa fortress. Of course, they'd have to start diverting forces to various other theaters, but for now it was important that they looked like they fully recovered from the fight with the guild and came out swinging against the Sapphire Kingdom.

Alexandra nodded.

"Excellent. Subtlety, Glitch, how's the army doing up north?"

"Our troops have left for Asaria, as ordered." Said Subtelty. "Accompanied by the human forces not involved in the pacification of the east."

"They're our troops as well now. Keep that in mind. Any trouble?"

The AI grimaced.

"Sunrise attempted to fix the damage we inflicted on the road we built as we retreated, but most of it is still...less than ideal."

"I'll see about getting some volunteers from Myriu to help with that. If nothing else, we need to start dispersing the refugees there. Plus, many of them are chomping at the bit, and would be very interested in a change of scenery. Especially if that means following the army."

Many of the former slaves only felt safe if her troops were nearby, which she fully understood, and was why she was leaving a token garrison in Myriu. Nonetheless, most of them would jump at the chance of following the army for added safety, even if only an illusion thereof, and a fair few had been enslaved around Asaria and would want to come home anyway.

Besides, the Empire was going to be making a lot of roads, and some of them probably figured that it would be as good of a trade to learn as any, especially when it would be on the Empire's dime.

"That would be helpful." Said Subtlety, and Glitch stepped forward. They were getting used to working together, those two.

"In terms of the welcome they can expect, I have been liaising with Asaria's authorities and the remnants of the royal army." The AI smiled, and glitched slightly, a few more eyes appearing before vanishing. "They have taken catastrophic damage, but similarly have been constructing lodgings as fast as possible. If their timetable is true, then our forces will be able to inhabit Sunrise's siegeworks."

Alexandra nodded.

"Good. Our golems don't need much protection, but the humans do. Any more news on the forces they are planning to contribute?"

"Mostly mages that fully specialize in combat, and thus can be spared from the reconstruction efforts, as well as guides. Plus a few knights."

"I thought they wouldn't be able to spare any of the latter."

"It seems to be more...symbolic than any meaningful military contribution."

Alexandra nodded. That was fair. With the New Republic's and Tark's militaries now acting under the Imperial banner, the crown would be anxious to get some proper royal troops under the colors, what with Philia having taken all her knights with her when she went to organize the pacification of the east, and Rim's twentieth royal heavy infantry being mostly a mess of various odds and ends.

"Alright. Frankie?"

The AI nodded. The second Culture-class ship AI was more or less in charge of the southern military operations, there was no real need to ask her about a specific topic. Also, was Alexandra dreaming or was her avatar becoming more masculine? Uh.

"No status change from the New Republic or Tark. Units are still moving into position. The fortresses at the Hegemony's border should fall soon, but for now both sides are simply maneuvering."

"And Elkis?"

"The Republic capital is in chaos." The AI shrugged. "Information is trickling through diplomatic channels. I believe Allya would be better informed. However, analysis from Trira indicates that senate dynasties are preparing to evacuate, mostly via the city's teleporter."

Alexandra nodded. That was to be expected. The senate had held on as long as possible, but now that it was clear that sinking was inevitable, and Allya wouldn't be willing to rein in her vassals and negotiate the senate's survival, the rats were abandoning ship.

"So, still within our expectations. Emilia, honey?"

The vampire smiled toothily.

"Well, my family is still in turmoil after your various bombshells. But they have bigger problems to deal with, thanks to the collapse of the adventurers guild, so it looks like we're in the clear for now. That has also bought you a lot of points with some people, the guild was...not liked by certain members of my family."

"Good. Very good." The vampires as a group were still a variable she was having a hard time grasping, and their influence on dungeons was staggering. Plus, she would have to get to them to be able to break the God of Fire's hold on all dungeons. "Then let's get to work people. We have wars to win."

And a world to conquer.