City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Ashton Harbor

"Those bastards, merchants! It is them, who provided the alchfire making us lose the battle," said the man with a staff.

Saying he was angry right now would be a grave understatement. He is beyond angry.

So much, that he wanted to go there alone, but that would be beyond dangerous. Merchants might make him disappear before he even reaches the city.

There is even a rumor of a few of the emperors' dogs being in the region.

He does not think it is true, but be careful against it.

They have attacked the city thrice and failed all three times. They were defeated by the enemy, despite having ten times more numbers than them.

The news had already reached the island, and they were blaming him for it.

He will not deny his fault, but it is not completely his fault.

If they had sent the people, he wanted. There wouldn't be such a humiliating defeat.

He had told them that. Damn the consequences.

"Should we divert our horde?" asked the armored man. "No, they had asked me to keep it on the way to the Port Midlet," he replied.

There was a question in the armored man's eyes, but when he looked at the angry face of him, he understood the reason.

He didn't ask about it. It's wise; It's above our level.

If we had been on the island. We have diverted our forces, despite it being nearly reaching the city.

People need to know, that Vris'alud never stops.

If you beat us once, we will come a second time. If you beat the second time, we will come third and keep coming, till we conquer you.

We have come here to conquer the region but have no intention of making it a dominion of Vris'alud.

There is a different purpose.

Something even he didn't know; the only thing he knows is that it is extremely important. More important, than conquering the city with a legacy in it

To them Port Midlet is important. It will give them control over the coast.

From it, they could move deeper into the region to conquer the other cities. There are still half of the cities, they have yet to conquer.

…

'Halt, retreat to the city,'

I stopped, before turning back toward the gate.

It had been half an hour since I had killed the last undead.

We had killed nearly all of them, that barely 1% of them had escaped. Five thousand from the five million, that came to conquer us.

It took me a few minutes to reach the gates, thanks to the horse, that was brought to me.

Thud!

I dismounted and walked toward the stairs of the wall. Reaching the top, a few minutes later.

"How much ammunition did we use?" I asked, "Less than we had expected to use for such victory," he replied and then showed me a figure.

It is around 30% less than we had estimated.

"The alchfire orbs did their job too well. The quick retreat had also helped in saving the ammunition," he added, and I couldn't help but nod at that.

"It's such a regret; it is a not weapon, we could use at every battle or reliable to be used," I replied, and I sighed, while the man smiled.

I turned ahead and saw the destruction the battle had caused.

The bodies of the undead littered everywhere, especially around the part where the alchfire had burned.

It burned most of the victims to ashes, but seeing it had lasted for only six seconds. The are some at the end, had only half burned; it killed them, but didn't burn them fully.

The army is returning group by group. It will take some time, before the whole army returns.

Hun!

I was looking at all the bodies when over a thousand volunteers walked out of the gates.

Not to fight, but to pile up the bodies of the undead. We had already gathered the bodies of our powerhouses and the enemy powerhouse, but the undead had remained.

"Congratulations, my lord. It's a great victory," congratulated Mage Ravill.

"It wouldn't have been possible without your and everyone's help, High-Mage," I replied as I shook the old man's hand.

We have achieved victory, and we did it in the first hour. It took double the time to kill the running undead.

We have also captured quite a number of enemy powerhouses. Most of them surrendered on their own, and a few needed to be forcefully captured.

There were some killed, like the leader Necromancer Methum, and a few like Wayne were able to escape.

It is a great victory, that I am having hard believing. I thought the battle would last till the evening at least, but here, it had ended in the afternoon.

"A meeting at five. Bring the complete information." I said to Cardin and walked away.

There are two and a half hours to have and a lot of things to do.

The carriage was waiting for me, and I stepped in. It didn't take me to my office but to the hospital.

When I reached the first hospital. I had seen the same scene I had seen after the other two battles, with a lot of injuries on beds, some lying still, some screaming.

Though, there is also big a difference.

There is a much greater order in the chaos. There are more healers and doctors, more resources, and the capacity to house the patients.

I had hired a lot of people in the medical profession. Not just doctors, but also the nurses and other support staff, that will help save a maximum lives.

I talked to the healers and patients for a few minutes before going to the church's hospital.

The church of Dusk has the second biggest hospital in the city, but for the battle, they had expanded it further.

Thankfully, there are enough priests to serve the patients and also their in-house doctors.

Bishops and even paladins are helping to heal the patients after the grueling battle.

They had brought more of their people from a merchant state, a few days ago. To deal with the load of the battle.

It is a massive risk. If we had lost the battle; they would have been the first to be killed by the undead.

They are risking a lot for the city, but also receiving benefits. They are getting a lot of faithful, with many people converting to the church of Dusk.

It is not just the humans, but also the orcs.

"Milord, you should take the rest," said Bishop Alanis. "I am fine, your excellency," I replied.

She looked at me for a moment but didn't say anything. After a few words, she returned to the patients.

I am really fine. I had a few injuries, but they were healed by the potions, and a few soldiers helped me bandage, which I could remove, but kept for the effect.

When the carriage entered the inner range. I activated the energizing essence. It disappeared after getting out of its range, but it did take away a lot of my tiredness.

The skill is amazing. If it is used in moderation, it could help in dealing with tiredness within a few minutes of use.

If it is used for hours; it makes me so tired. , I couldn't even stay awake for a minute after its deactivation.

I had learned that lesson the hard way.

It was around four, that I had returned to city hall. It is full; the employees were the first to allow out a safe zone along with healers stationed there.

Click!

I walked into my office and saw, Ina already there.

"These are the numbers from hospitals," she said and placed the file in front of me.

It is the thing; I had asked her to prepare before the battle.

I opened the file and there were the approximate numbers of soldiers each hospital had. Their condition, their estimated healing time, and other details.

I finished the file, and there was a relief on my face.

The percentage of casualties was much less than in the last battle. The fight didn't last long.

Most importantly, the circle formations had kept over 90% safe, half of the battle.

They fought only when the undead swarmed.

That took half an hour before the undead retreated. Then it was a chase and kill.

It gave me more hope for the second part of the plan, but nothing is decided until I meet Stone and others at five.

"Zela, ask Mr. Marysel if he is free to talk to me?" I asked. She nodded and closed her eyes before opening it a few seconds later.

"He is," she replied and raised her hand toward me.

I took her hand and within a second, I got connected to the intelligence officer.

I talked to him for about ten minutes, and he provided me with the current intelligence.

After I finished with him. I focused, I focused on the work; the intelligence confirmed, the intelligence we had earlier, there was no change in it.

Which is a relief.

I got busy with work and before I knew it; it was five.

'Master Silver, they are here,' informed Jill. "Send them in," I said.

Click!

The door opened, and Stone, Cardin, and Azalea walked in.

Stone and Azalea looked good. Stone isn't pale anymore and there are only half of the bandages remain on Colonel Azalea's body.

"Lord Silver," they greeted as they entered inside. "Take a seat, you all," I offered.

They sat down but didn't talk. There was a silence that seemed to stretch forever.

There are thousands of things to talk about, but all the people in the room are thinking about only one thing.

"So, can we, do it? The important question is, should we, do it? Given the risks it has," I asked, and their eyes turned serious.

I didn't get a reply immediately. Stone stayed silent for a couple of seconds before finally opening his mouth.

"If we had the casualties and injured as much as the last battle. I would have discouraged it," he said, and paused for a moment, before speaking again.

"Now, I think we should do it. It is the best time. We have men in good spirits after the victory and our enemy is busy, fighting another battle,"

"Yes, it has the risks. We might be completely routed, but if we succeed, Panar will be ours and it will make the city more secure with it between," he replied.

The first half of the plan is to win a decisive victory. The second half is to attack the city of Panar.

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