49 Suckering them in - 101

"Elves? Are you sure?"

Everyone was back in Mia's tent for their usual briefing. Titus was reporting on the events of the past few days. His two missions were a success. The Kunall scouts were eliminated, and the wolves harassing the construction site would no longer be a problem. But this was as expected and today's briefing was about his weird findings.

"Yes. Two of them." Answered Titus. From the moment he spotted the elves scouts he knew what his lord's reaction would be. "They were watching us from the forest. I almost missed them."

He finished his report on the elves with a teasing smile. "It was two old men."

A low groan was heard from Chris as he fell back on his sit, followed by a mocking giggle coming from Mia's direction.

Berg took advantage of the calm to speak. "Elves… Why are they here?" Worried Berg. "We haven't heard from any of them in years…"

Everyone shared his worries. After all the timing was worrisome. Why now when everything started going well for them? Did the elves notice something or are they looking for something? What is their mission?

The tent remained silent as everyone was lost in thoughts until Ferlin finally said what was on their minds. "Could it be because of the dungeon?"

The dungeon was their biggest ace in the hole, but it was also a time bomb ready to explode at the first mistake. The consequences of anyone finding out about it would be much worse than the Kunalls finding Brine City or the defense wall. That would only mean some more destruction and the unfortunate loss of life. But if the dungeon's existence was leaked, the entire human kingdom would be lost to the strongest faction around.

And their worry was legitimate, after all, dungeons were magical constructions and the elves were very in tune with anything magical. It would not be strange if when close to it, they could feel the magical energy radiating from the entrance.

Luckily, Titus put their minds at ease. "I wouldn't worry about that. They found us by following the Kunalls. So it's likely that they found us by coincidence."

Everyone in the tent felt relief at those words. They knew they still had to be vigilant, but it was one less worry… For now.

Titus continued his report. "We went ahead with our planed schedule as the elves didn't seem hostile and kept their distance. We left for the building site after cleaning the battleground. Aiden was very happy to see us and after a night's rest, we secured the nearby forest."

"I noticed then, that the elves were still following us. We can assume they now know of the building site and of Brine City. They didn't seem to follow us further, but they only have to follow the caravans of workers and tools we are sending back and forth between Brine City and the construction site to find us."

"What are your thoughts?" Asked Chris. Not much was known of the elves but he knew even less than his subordinates. He was also worried his view was tainted by the stories from his previous world.

"Should we get in touch?" Offered Cat.

"How? We don't know where their camp is." Added Ferlin.

"We need to find out what their objectives is. This is still the human kingdom, even given our current… state." Added Cid.

"I think it's unlikely their objectives will interfere directly with us. After all we have no conflict with them.."

"But that was before our current situation. Will they still respect our sovereignty given our current state?" Said Cat.

Chris listened to everyone and finally came to a decision.

"Alright. For now let's play hard to get." This was directly taken from a page of his latest work. "Suckering them in - 101". Something he was preparing to help his scouts recruit people from refugee camps.

"Hard to get?" Everyone, even Mia who thought she was getting used to his tricks, turned to Chris in surprise.

"We don't know where they are, so we'd have to send scouts to look for their camp right? Won't that make us look desperate?" Answered Chris with a smile. "It's better to let them come to us at least then we can shoo them away if we don't like what they have to say."

"We don't have anything to offer right now anyways, and they won't give us what we want until we do. So what's the point? Let's ignore them as long as they don't interfere."

Everyone seemed to agree. Until Mia suddenly shouted. "Ah!"

"Could it be you are saying this because the elf scouts were just a bunch of old men?"

*Cough*. Chris pretended not to hear and continued. "But we must still be careful. Titus, send fifty more men to defend the construction site and let's increase our patrols around the northern and eastern area of our territory."

"Yes sire!"

Everyone relaxed with the serious stuff now gone, and Chris asked. "So how is the construction going?"

Everyone was curious. Of course they received daily reports from Aiden. But today they had someone who was there just recently.

"The foundations are dug, and the wall itself is perhaps one quarter done." Estimated Titus. "Aiden is currently redirecting part of the workforce to build a water tower, as per your instructions, and their water pump arrived the morning we left. This should increase their efficiency and fee a lot of workers acting as water carriers."

"We are cutting it close." Estimated Chris. The goal was to have the wall ready before the eastern Kunall Fortress noticed anything weird going on.

In a little less than one week, the last Kunall patrol would leave for their usual rounds and the Scout camp would expect the first patrol Chris and his men defeated to return. The Kunalls would undoubtedly grow restless with the patrol's disappearance, and it would become harder to predict their actions.

Something they could not afford. In the best case scenario the scout camp would just wait a little longer to see if the patrol was late, but in the worse case scenarios they would send a messenger to the Kunall Fortress to report the missing patrol or request for reinforcements.

This was not a risk they could afford to take, Brine City had to stay in the shadows for as long as possible.

Chris currently estimated they had three to four weeks left before the Kunall's army came to knock on their door.

Three weeks if they managed to avoid raising suspicion until they could raze the Kunall scout camp. After that, the fortress would stop receiving messengers from the scout camp and would grow suspicious. They would gain a few extra days, perhaps an extra week by eliminating the messengers before they could report back.

The elves threw a wrench in his plans, but it was too early to know what the consequences would be.

"We have three weeks to finish the defense wall." Continued Chris. "Mia, is there anything we can do to help Aiden?"

"We could send more workers. We have some non-essential workers available with the arrival of the latest refugees." She offered.

"Let's do that." Decided Chris.

"Alright, thank you everyone. Let's end today's meeting here." Said Chris.

But he soon added. "Ah. Titus, walk with me to my tent. We need to talk about speeding up our recruiting efforts."

Titus joined Chris in his tent and after a short chat, it was decided to send more scouts in the eastern part of the Kingdom to recruit as many refugees as possible in the next 3 to 4 weeks. This was the part of the kingdom closest to the fortress and refugees there would undoubtedly suffer the worst consequences.

Still, Titus was a little confused as this could have been talked about in the meeting. When the real reason for this chat suddenly revealed itself.

Titus noticed that Chris started to look around suspiciously. Soon a bundle was handed to him, as if it was contraband. That bundle barely saw the light of day and went directly from Chris' sleeves to Titus'.

It was so fast, that Titus' great eyes barely managed to see it was a bunch of scrolls with the title 'Suckering Them In - 101'.

"Share this with our scouts. It will help with our recruiting efforts." Said Chris in a low voice. Mia's tent was next door and he couldn't afford any leaks.

"S-sure…"

Chris put on a large smile now that his goal was reached and put his arm around Titus shoulders. He leaned in as they walked out and asked. "By the way. Your long vision skill, is this a special skill? Or is it due to your power level or something?"

"I'm not sure what you mean my Lord." Said Titus a little confused.

"I mean are your eyes just naturally that good? Do you use magic? Or it's like an art martial thing?" Asked Chris. "Can it do other things? Like see through stuff?"