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Chapter 153: We can't win, but...
Chapter 153: We can't win, but...
The situation appeared, in all its complexity, to be fairly simple.
For now and at least the next two days, the camp would remain as it was, with only the surviving mercenaries manning it up. After all the causalities brought by the courtesy of NeuArms Inc. and my raid, there were still four to five thousand humans left in the camp.
In two days, though, the main force of the entire campaign would arrive. The Golden Imperial Legion. A unit that my female prisoner of war uttered with utmost respect.
Or, in other words, a proper army of five thousand frontline veterans, all assembled from the elites grown in the other legions of the empire.
Five thousand men whose one and sole purpose in life was war. And a day or two after them, two more legions would arrive, bringing the total number above what I had any hopes of handling.
Over the rest of the next two weeks, more and more forces from the imperial tributary states would arrive, bumping the total number to several times as much as I could handle with my tricks, tactics, and strategies.
"The moment the golden legion arrives, we are fucked," I took a step forward, freeing myself from Fay's possessive hold, and standing in the middle of the high-ranking celestials. "If there's any truth to the rumors our prisoner spoke about, they should be able to conquer this forest all on their own."
Despite the resounding success of my raid… I dared not to underestimate the enemy.
If only that powerful mage from before managed to finish her spell and set that massive, powerful storm upon the forest…
I didn't even want to think about the consequences of it.
"Then what are you suggesting?!" Loraz finally lost control over his emotions, slamming his fist into the ground in a fit of powerless fury. "For us to just charge to our deaths? To at least make our last stand full of bravery?!"
Despite the man clearly using me as a scapegoat to throw all his worries at… I simply couldn't bring myself to hate him.
Not only because, regardless of their relationship, he was Fay's father… but because, to a degree, I could understand how he felt.
His homeland was threatened by a force he couldn't stop. In the next few weeks, his entire race was about to get eradicated, leading to the failure of the mission of protecting the forest from the human bestowed upon them by their creator.
And the worst part of it all, there was extremely little of what he could do about it.
'Oh how little he understands about humans,' I thought, waiting for the man's fit of rage to pass before clearing my throat and raising my eyes on Loraz's face, unbothered by his bout of anger.
"Do you even have a clue on how expensive it is to rally such a massive army?" I asked in a voice as calm as I could produce.
And while it would be stupid to expect Loraz to answer when he was so heated, from the twitch of his eyes, I could tell.
He took my point to the heart.
"It costs money to rally that kind of army. And humans, as stupid as we can be at times, are either desperate for something or expect the war to bring them something that would offset those costs."
In the end, humans… and rulers, in particular, had to be pragmatic. Only a crazed ruler would throw countless armies into the meatgrinder for no reason at all.
'And a crazed ruler would never be able to assemble an entire legion of elites. That's only possible for a beloved or otherwise a great ruler.'
"But let's ignore the topic of money and keep going. Do you know how much effort it takes to plan such an overwhelming undertaking? How troublesome it is to stop any and all internal conflicts? Or to calm the unrest back at the country if the nobles don't approve the campaign?"
I shook my head.
"For this war to happen, everything has to work exactly as the human leaders expect it to happen. Sure, details may vary. A clash of their forces might result in more casualties than they expected… but it doesn't affect the full picture."
Lost for breath, I cut my voice and took a moment to gather the air in my lungs and to calm my thoughts down.
'There's no reason to get all agitated. Calm down,' I told myself, keeping my lungs empty to calm my heart down a bit before slowly filling them back up with air.
"For this war to happen, everything has to happen, more or less, as expected," I stated my point again, only to finally reveal a hint of a smile.
I've kept everyone tense for long enough. Now, the time was ripe to finally reveal what made me think I could face such an overwhelming number of invaders.
"The reason for our attack won't be to kill as many humans as we can before their reinforcements arrive. Doing so would only start a war of attrition, a war we don't have the numbers for."
I shook my head with a solemn expression taking over my face.
Sure, every single celestial and divine appeared to be a small army on their own, more than capable of singlehandedly dismantling entire units of humans.
But what about the elite humans? People who fought in wars and learned how to behave to keep themselves safe? People who wouldn't walk into obvious traps that a bunch of newbies would happily stroll into?
And what if there were five fucking thousands of them, all used and trained in cooperating with their companions?
"When we attack the camp, you guys are free to burn it to the ground. But it's not going to be our priority" I announced only for a vile smile to finally take root and blossom on my lips.
"Our target, this time, is to kidnap as many humans as we can so that when the first set of exchanges and handshakes comes to an end, we will have more cards to play on the negotiating table."