Politics at the Front

I walked up the wall of the City, looked out over a sprawl of Trenches and fortifications in the ground, and looked toward the sight beyond it. The sight of over a hundred thousand humans gathering and setting up a camp a distance away with steel on their bodies. It was a grim sight, and soon a battle would start, and I felt a presence walk up beside me.

It was my Mother, and she looked at me with a grim smile, "Now that is an intimidating sight; too bad we have brought more," My mother said.

"And they are less organized than the enemy. Worse, where are their battle slaves? How are we to use their own slaves against them if they are absent?" I asked.

"I do not believe they are absent; I believe they are their logistics; they are bringing up the supplies and will be here in the coming weeks. A fairly standard way of bringing battle slaves in the past was to use them to transport food, weapons, and supplies to the front, then get pushed forward as meat shields for their forces."

"What an incredibly stupid way of doing logistics and use of resources."

"They don't have to continue feeding them anymore, though," my mother replied. There are benefits to it. You can starve them on the way here, then send them into the fight to wear out your enemy and chip at your spears and swords. Then follow them into the battle with fresh soldiers that are well fed and have a good night's rest. They can always buy more slaves later," my mother said and looked at me, and I shook my head.

"It is Worthless and ineffective in the long run. Population is important, but the Empire has not learned this lesson like I have. Our people back in the tribes cannot afford to have this many fighters out at the war front for much longer."

"I have not been hearing good things about the state of our finances."

"It's bad as long as the Dragonic keeps the hoard closed. Our tower is coming in clutch for gold flow, and the other tribes are starting to follow behind us for the War. We are gaining more and more from this war while the Dragonic, while strong, is losing its ability to control the other tribes as we are gaining control."

"What are you saying, Chelsea?" my mother asked, turning to look at me seriously, although I could feel a hunger in her gaze.

"I am saying that this war will destroy the Beast-kin nation as we know it. If the war is still ongoing for another two months," I smiled, "And the Dragonic still haven't opened the Dragon Hoard? They will lose all power. The Silvermoon tower will gain control of all the other tribes with our Elders, and there will be nothing the Dragonic can do about it. The bunny-kin got closer to the Succubi and the Devils of the Demon lands. The Bunny-kin are the ones who spent their gold for the war. The bunny-kin or myself were the ones who led the war and took the largest gains. I have sole credit for taking Border City, and I am going to tell you the truth, Mother," I said, turning to her. "We cannot support the logistics of moving further east. WE CANNOT DO IT." I stated as a fact, turning to look over the Empire setting up a distance from the trenches.

"The Elders will not like hearing that."

"I do not care; this isn't about force numbers. Look out there; we have more Barbarians out in the trenches my people made than they have soldiers lining up against us. Maybe this is their whole force. Maybe if we kill all of them, and this is the entirety of the Empire's warfighting power, we will be able to take the land up to the next city. But I have few ships. They sent most of them downriver with the Nobilities things. I will need to make new River barges to add to the few I have. I cannot, and I mean, CANNOT feed the army away from the city. Damnit, we are lucky that we are spending Noble's gold on the human farmers who sold us their crops at a premium and LESSENED the hate against us. They are richer under our rule than the previous owners of this city. They are even safer under my martial law with the Elite Soldiers walking around and killing the Undead everywhere. People are starting to let us into their homes to save their loved ones now. That has been the span of the last couple of days. But we have to feed this city and the humans here, and frankly," I turned to my mother, and she was looking at me with that hungry gaze, "If we can annex this land as ours and keep the conquered land, we have proven our point. We would have come out and accomplished what we can with this war."

My mother was silent and turned to look out at the forces, and I looked out with her. "Well—" My mother was about to say something, but then a mana message hit us, and we both frowned for a moment. Then things started, and people started to fly over, and I saw War Chief Isabelle walking toward us on the wall from a distance, much to my surprise. The Elders all showed up at the same time and looked out into the Empire's forces as Isabelle joined us.

"An Impromptu Elder meeting," I loudly proclaimed. To what do I owe the honor?" 

My question rang out over a silent audience, and I looked them over.

"Supreme Commander Chelsea, you have done much for the War effort up to this point," Elder Redscale suddenly said, and I closed my eyes with his formal tone and the expressions of the other Elders. "With your forces now controlling the city and the Main army being the main forces to clash with the Empire, we believe it might be prudent for War Chief Isabelle to start to lead her forces for the Glory of the Dragonic Tribe."

I could see that the other Elders were not happy with this, but the Dragonic still had the most A rankers in the nation despite their growing unpopularity among other tribes. I looked at him and shrugged, "Elder Redscale," I said, turning to him, "I never saw myself as the main leader of the forces in the first place. I thought it was a meeting of Equals between War Chief Isabelle and myself. I have never thought I was dictating myself to Isabelle," I lied without remorse, "Am I allowed to still push forward my opinion for your consideration?" I asked.

"I believe it is time for the War Chief to show their competence in the face of the enemy. We will not ask for your advice for the next couple of battles unless your Elite Army is involved." Elder Redscale said for Isabelle, and I realized this was because of what was happening back in the Nation, and Politics just hit the war front.

"Unacceptable," I replied with a smile, and Elder Redscale looked at me angrily.

"What gives you the thought that you can tell us no?" Elder Redscale said with a sneer. The other Elders watched in silence, some looking worried, and my Mother was watching him closely.

"Because My forces are involved in the front," I said, looking him straight in the eyes and sneering, "I am the Supreme Commander of both the ELITE ARMY AND LOGISTICS ARMY!" I yelled at the end, "You want to feed the main forces, don't you, Elder Redscale? Or are you going to let the Main army Die starving to death?" I asked him bluntly, and I heard my mother chuckling behind me. The other Elders seemed enlightened, and I heard Kitty chuckle. Elder Bradley of the Honey Badger tribe started to laugh hard and without shame at Elder Redscale.

"She has you there, Redscale," Roared Bradley, laughing at him. You do want to feed the army, and she is the one feeding them. I believe that makes her input on all movements of the Army of paramount importance. It is like she is the Supreme Commander for a reason!" Elder Bradly called out, laughing.

Elder Redscale opened and closed his mouth, looking to retort, and I turned to him. "You clearly want War Chief Isabelle to be able to prove her worth. I can move to a logistical advisory mode," I said, politically backing up, earning the appreciation of many of the Elders. Bradley was still laughing at Elder Redscale. I will still veto any movements that are logistically impossible, but the defense will fall to Isabelle for now."

Silence took over the impromptu meeting on the wall, and Isabelle walked up to me, "I am sorry it came down like this; I should have just asked you in person without all of this to be able to make achievements," Isabelle said seriously.

"You're right. Next time, just talk to me, and I can advise. But now, my hands are tied. I can only advise you on logistical matters. If you want my opinion on anything else," I looked at Elder Redscale. You will have to ask." I turned and looked at my mother. Let's go. I have something important to talk to my mother about."

My mother nodded and followed me along the wall and back into the city without saying anything to the other elders.