Chapter 340

  Qualen Woods, Archduchy of Rebirth

  Darthar-Asaria Trade Route

  "So...the results?" Asked the King, before the assembled war council, with its usual three parts in Rebirth, the army, and the capital.

  "Even when the dust has settled, hard numbers for battles like this are always a problem." Warned Alexandra, before sighing. "But bottom line? We engaged with twenty thousand golems and around eighty thousand soldiers." Despite their protests, most of the people they'd resurrected from the last battle were not in any condition to fight and had been either sent home or packed with the civilians for evacuation. "Around half of my golems came back out of that grinder. We lost another ten thousand in human troops pulling what was left of my force out, and pushing off the enemy's harassers when they finally managed to get through the minefields, but we managed to bring back all of them. Well, their bodies, resurrection efforts are still ongoing."

  Silence descended upon the council. Twenty thousand losses. One in five of their entire army.

  "And the enemy?" Said his majesty as he spoke again.

  "Estimates...vary. We can do a headcount of our people, but it's extremely hard to tell on the other side who was killed or just heavily wounded." Especially since what would be 'mortal wounds' back on Earth were remarkably survivable with a bit of magic or even just some essence. "Our estimates are between eighty to a hundred and twenty thousand fatalities. The vast majority of them slaves, but we have seriously hammered their heavy infantry linebreaker formations. But they're shocktroops, they're meant to be ripped apart, and probably have the means to resurrect a lot of them."

  "So for every one we lost, we took down four to six of them?" The King's renewed surge of optimism died as he glanced at his wife. "...It's not that simple, is it?"

  "No it's not." Softly said the Queen. "Yes, a six to one fatality ratio is amazing, but...our estimates were that the army she left with had a million and a half slaves, with three hundred thousand regular and elite troops. They took some losses before, but they also regained some from the garrisons they absorbed on the way, even if they were mostly slaves. Even if the army didn't grow somewhat, which is very optimistic, we're outnumbered eighteen to one. This wasn't an even trade, let alone one in our favor."

  "Precisely." Alexandra sighed as the King turned back to her. "Though, given the circumstances, we got away far more lightly than we should have. This will probably give them pause as well, but how long is anyone's guess." The dungeon core shrugged. "Probably long enough until we've reached the scrublands, but once there..."

  "They'll move faster." Finished Manson, the duke of Sarth looking like he'd aged five years in as many days. "More importantly, they'll be able to deploy their army fully. Especially on the flanks. The trick you did with the minefield won't work when they can spread out ten times as many troops on the sides and clear the traps by throwing bodies at them."

  "So...what is the plan, then?" Asked the King.

  Everyone turned towards Alexandra. Manson, especially, looked like he wanted to say something but was holding his tongue. For now at least.

  Allya and Pyn knew what she was going to say, but they were playing their part as well.

  "Our objective is still to play for time. We will continue our retreat, but with raiding units in the enemy's rear, to force them to slow down by damaging their supply lines. They may not have much need for supplies, but they do need it for their elite...which we've forced to bear the brunt of the attrition in the advance, thanks to our traps. That means those convoys are vital to their continued operations. It's far from perfect, but it's what we've got."

  "If we retreat much further, we'll go past Myriu." Interjected Rim.

  "Yes. We will. Is there a problem with that?"

  "Just that my men won't like it." The colonel said. "For that matter neither will I. I understand the necessity, it just...stings." He shrugged. "We spent so long defending it..."

  "I understand. But we can't afford to make a stand." If nothing else her golem units were so decimated she basically only had artillery and a few backline formations, her assault units having been utterly decimated in the battle. That wasn't enough to be able to do a stand, and the human troops were getting rather ragged as well.

  "The colonel brings up a good point though. Morale is becoming a problem." Manson gestured vaguely as everyone turned back to him. "The Mackie was a symbol. Its loss is being felt. And our repeated defeats are chipping away at our people. Many are starting to have doubts in our ultimate victory."

  "I assume mainly among the neutrals so far?"

  "Surprisingly enough, no. They seem to be throwing their lot with us wholeheartedly, if only because Sunrise won't forgive their perceived betrayal by siding with us in the end. But some of my people have begun, quietly you understand, to suggest perhaps a negotiated peace was in order. They..." He coughed. "The way they see it, Rebirth is effectively its own nation is anything but name, and we are spending the lives and treasure of our people to save the crown, for little if any gain. Some have floated the idea that Surnise would be more than willing to give up Kaidan and everything west of the Kamira river."

  "Let it be clear, to everyone, that this will not happen." Said Allya, before Alexandra could even open her mouth, the archduchess' tone icy cold on a level to rival Alexandra's best. "I will not make deals with slavers. I am willing to let them live if they give up their slaves, but that is the limit of my mercy. Bar that, a peace treaty will be done over Satina's steaming corpse, am I understood?"

  Everyone nodded, including their majesties. They clearly were under no illusion that a peace deal wouldn't essentially be dictated by Rebirth.

  It's not like they themselves had much weight besides their title and control of the capital at this point, and both were rather flimsy, especially when they'd been on the verge of losing the latter.

  "One other thing this engagement has showcased-" said Alexandra, picking the conversation up as the silence threatened to drag on. "-is our glaring lack of counterintelligence capabilities. Stumbling upon the rogues' camp was luck more than anything." Well, high tech AI analysis, but she wasn't about to tell them that. "And although we haven't started on interrogations in earnest, the recovered equipment points to their plan being a lot bigger than just scaring the civilians. We just lucked out and caught them halfway through."

  Allya nodded.

  "I have been working on something to that end." Which was to say, they'd been in long discussions about it and she'd been laying some groundwork. Alexandra still had some surges of paranoia, but she was getting better about delegating things without even keeping an eye on them. Just...trusting her people to do it right.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Uh...when had she started thinking of Allya as part of 'her' people?

  "Good." Said the dungeon core, as she realized Allya wasn't continuing. "I'll stand ready to assist in any way that I can. In the meantime however, we do need to work on some ways to increase morale. So let us adjourn, and hopefully we will have ideas, if not something ready to put into action, by the next meeting. Unless someone has something else to bring to the table?" Everyone shook their head. "Then, have a good day everybody. And take some rest. I have a feeling we all need it."

  *****

  The silence was total as Ghost slotted the final component, before stepping back and tapping on the screen.

  The fabricator hummed, beeped...and turned on.

  "Status is nominal." Said the apparition. "We're done!"

  The room descended into cheers. Everyone under Alexandra's 'employ' was there, even if they had to be remotely like CQ.

  "Excellent." Said Alexandra as grinned, before making a sweeping gesture. "Then time to get this show on the road! Let roar the forges of war!"

  Orders flew out throughout the dungeon's internal network, and everywhere the roar of industry began anew. Forges were set alight, assembly lines started running, and the fabricators began to humm, one after the other.

  Alexandra grinned as she saw Emilia just roll her eyes.

  "Show off..." Muttered the vampire.

  The dungeon core laughed.

  "Maybe, but it's warranted." And a proper lift of morale for her people. Even though they had great faith in her and had access to the same data and planning she did, at least on this project, it was a hell of a lot different to see it. Alexandra clapped. "Alright everybody, let's have a small celebration in the diplomatic hall. We need to avoid clogging up the area!"

  *****

  "So...off to produce a new army?" Said Allya as she picked up a glass of champagne off the table.

  "Yep." Alexandra's eyebrow rose as the archduchess grabbed another glass and offered it to her. "Feeling extra celebratory?" She asked as she grabbed the delicate crystal container.

  "I'm wondering why you're not. You seem...ambivalent."

  Alexandra raised the glass to her lips as she surveyed the room, in what she knew was a transparent ploy to buy time.

  It wasn't quite a party, but it was close enough. What was important was that everyone was mingling and people weren't trying to form cliques. She really needed this, as despite constantly working together, her people didn't actually know one another. That didn't seem all too important for a military organization but the human factor could grease the wheels a great deal.

  Besides which, AIs couldn't fully develop without this kind of social interraction, and CQ couldn't do it all on her own. Not anymore. She was a potent spark, but at some point you had to give the fire tinder to grow.

  "I am." Finally said the dungeon core.

  "May I ask why? This is a huge achievement. With this, we're certain to take down Sunrise."

  Alexandra sighed.

  "Yeah. We are."

  The archduchess glanced at the dungeon core, before chuckling.

  "They got to you, didn't they?"

  "Who?"

  "The twins. Rook. You're thinking you're about to kill a whole lot of people who don't have to die."

  "...Yes."

  Allya downed her entire drink, with far more haste than such a fine beverage deserved...if Alexandra couldn't just replicate it. The dungeon core almost winced anyway. Buying this stuff to absorb hadn't been cheap. Or easy. If nothing else, she'd had to get it imported, though thankfully the delivery could be done at Erakis or Darthar now.

  "I sympathize." Said the archduchess. "But at some point, you have to do the math. Do you want to take the risk?"

  "Risk of what? Darthar is invulnerable."

  "Yeah, but if they cut your army off and overrun those civilians you saved, they won't stand a chance. That's not even to mention the damage you could do if your allies, if the entire kingdom, start wondering if you're fucking them over. We both know the duke has to be wondering, he's no one's fool. So now you have to ask, is it worth it?"

  Alexandra sighed. She was forcibly reminded of that conversation with Ghost.

  Allya wasn't -quite- a sociopath. Killing over a million people wasn't just a statistic to her.

  But she was someone who reminded her a lot of...well, herself, crossed with Ciel. The AI who'd nuked Washington from orbit in order to gain control of the UIS.

  That was a deadly combination.

  "I can't just...massacre all of them when there's a chance they can be saved."

  "You don't have to." The archduchess looked at her glass, and grimaced, swapping it out for a full one. "What you need, is time. The difference is you'll have an army to scare Sunrise with, instead of having to run away. So scare them. Kick them in the face then slowly, menacingly walk in their direction like the reaper of souls made manifest. Let them try to delay the confrontation every step of the way, and make it feel like a victory every time they manage to fend you off for another day."

  "Still going to lose a lot of people early on."

  "You can mitigate it." The archduchess nodded in the direction of a vampire that was trying very hard to look like he belonged. Jannick Fersen was the head of the enchanters Freya had left her, and he was painfully aware of her distrust towards him. He also, as far as she could tell, was actually clean and trying to genuinely be helpful. Which made it all the more unfortunate she just couldn't trust him. "Have pretty boy over there get his people on making something better to resurrect people. Industrialize the process. Even more than you have, I mean. It's not perfect, but..." Allya shrugged, and Alexandra sighed.

  "It's not, no."

  "At one point, one has to accept their best effort." Whispered a voice, and Alexandra almost broke her glass.

  For a split second, she wasn't in her dungeon. She was onboard one of the Federation's orbital shipyard, crying her heart out as Arcadia laid her hand on her shoulder.

  "Alex?" Asked Allya, concern clear in her voice.

  "Sorry." Said the dungeon core as she relaxed. "Just...a memory, that came back to me. But you're right. Even if...even if none of them are at fault, there's a point where it has to be good enough." Alexandra smiled as she met the archduchess' gaze. "Thank you."

  "Just part of the job." Allya chuckled. "Now, I better go get Pyn before she gets too deep in conversation with Emilia and we have another deadly bout of scheming."

  "Don't worry, I have Seraph keeping an eye on them." Especially since Ghost couldn't be relied on for this, the traitor. "But all the same, better go attend to them." Alexandra set down her glass, and quickly picked up one of iced tea and something that tasted like a orange and pineapple juice cocktail, but apparently came from a fruit from Pyn's homeland. "Though bribery always helps."

  "It's called 'being considerate' Alex."

  "That's what I said!"

  They both laughed, before Allya picked up the glass of juice, and they went to their partners.

  The world could wait for a few hours.

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