LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 91: Updates and Encounters
A workshop that was supposedly Alicia’s bedchambers had been tidied up for a meeting, with many prototypes and incomplete models moved to the loft above her desk. The cadre of Ordinals had gathered to each give their own reports, along with others that are close to Alicia barring Llynbel who was excused, for her work of redirecting flows of rivers were integral and could not be interrupted. The Empire’s march was the most immediately salient topic. It felt surreal for Alicia to be taking part in a meeting like this though she couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was that seemed off, that was for another time.
- “So… how many are we due to expect?”
The question was of course addressed to Dyson whose task was to reconnoiter their movement.
- “Forgive me mistress, for I could not acquire an accurate number.”
- “Don’t worry, we just need an estimate.”
- “The Kingdom believes an army of sixty-thousand strong is approaching.”
- “Believes?”
- “Yes, it seems to be a form of information warfare employed by the Empire. As for the Kingdom, the border forces were attacked unexpectedly, in the ensuing chaos and stress they likely could not validate the numbers. In addition, due to their corrupt nature, they likely grossly over exaggerated the number of attackers to save face.”
Although nothing was said, the atmosphere in the room had slightly shifted, towards that of disgust at the knowledge of corruption within Pyrinia. Corruption, insubordination, unfaithfulness, disloyalty, these were concepts foreign to Alicia’s Araneae. They held only absolute obedience, complete confidence, unwavering faith and unshaking loyalty towards their mistress, often to a fault. It was their very essence, as the kindred of hers spun from her. Of course Alicia sensed this subtle change, just barely. But could not truly understand it, and attributed it to a form of being riled up towards the intruders.
- “Then, as the one who has observed them firsthand, what is your opinion?”
- “I estimate a forty-thousand, but I expect actual the size of combat personnel to be much smaller than that, closer to thirty-thousand to twenty-five thousand.”
- “Oh? And why is that?”
- “A considerable bulk of their army size is bloated by non-combattants. These are personnel tied to the supply trains carrying materiel1Not to be confused with material. and other supporting assets such as armorers, blacksmiths, herders, craftsmen and retainers. It should be noted that the retainers in this case refer to individuals that are not officially part of the military.”
- “The logistical elements… The smiths are probably there for maintaining the equipment. Craftsmen for building the siege engines at the site… Is there anything you can tell me about their composition or command structure?”
- “Unfortunately we could not obtain much credible intel on those fronts. Anything thenceforth would only be speculative.”
- “Better than nothing, tell us.”
- “The army appeared to be loosely divided into various regiments and battalions with smaller companies therein. Commanding officers of each battalion appeared to be men-at-arms or knights, both of which reported to those of higher status above them - most likely lesser nobility that commands the regiments. We believe these nobility are under the command of the general and his war council. Additionally we have spotted species other than humans. They appear to be organized in an auxiliary system.
Our utmost apologies but we could not gain access to the general’s quarters located deep within their campsite without drawing attention.
‘This is getting old with groveling. Maybe I need to be more assertive about some things…’
- “You have nothing to apologize for, I asked you to investigate their movements discreetly and you did just that with commendable effort; So have some pride in yourself!”
- “Yes!”
With a resolute voice Delta answered while performing a gesture that Alicia could only interpret as a salute as she had not seen this particular one anywhere.
‘Did she make that up or pick it up from somewhere? Well moving on…’
- Err… What was that about the non-military retainers?
- “We have observed auxiliary units that provided relief services to the main forces. These units do not have a unifying affiliation, coming from various sources. Some human females are forcibly recruited into these positions, especially from the forts and nearby villages that came under the army’s occupation.”
‘Ah… prostitution and prisoners of war being… sexually assaulted. Right. From one awkward topic to another, great. Yeah, that’s enough of that.’
- “I understand. Erwin, anything new on your end?”
Echo whilst taking in as many refugees from the villages has still maintained some surveillance over the forward forces of the empire’s army, skulking in woodlands.
- “Their frequency of attacks have minimized greatly, however they have started prowling closer to our territory. I believe they are about ready to begin securing lumber for their engines.
As for the interventions, we have taken in over three-hundred additional refugees, about a third of which are in temporary lodging while we build more permanent above ground shelters.”
While there were plenty of ‘living spaces’ provided by Gamma’s tunnels underneath the forest floor, after a visit it was deemed unsuitable for humans by Alicia. Vertical tunnels without any form of escalation, near absolute darkness without a hint of light, rough-hewn floor and walls; The Enedra burrows were only suitable to Araneae that were accustomed to such an environment without any comforts. While it was possible to make the tunnels livable with few modifications to their design, that would take time, especially so if their master Gustave and her brood was away on an assignment of their own, and thus that idea shelved for later. In the meantime, crude huts, log cabins and extra teepee style tents provided from the trolls provided most of the temporary lodging.
- “Anything else?”
- “The woofers are doing their best to get food for the humans! They have lots and lots of meat now!”
Dryssia and Rufus were in charge of securing food. After accounting for increase in consumption and expanding the orchards along with the hunting areas it was not an issue as the stockpile was at a healthy level. While solely relying on hunting was not sustainable without permanently affecting the local ecosystem, before that though the newly planted fruit-bearing trees and fungus would begin producing returns.
- “The villagers are starting to settle down and getting accustomed to living in the forest, however they’re still requesting that they be allowed to form search parties to look for their relatives.”
Rosalia, despite her youth and relative inexperience, was still part of the ruling class of the aristocracy, in essence the villagers were her people. This made her a natural choice to represent them. Though there usually would be some dissent against her being a de facto leader due her age and general indifference towards the nobility - that from their point of view have more or less abandoned them. The presence of the direwolves that they saw first hand how vicious they could be, along with the now familiar Elvish rangers both showing some regard to her requests quelled any notion. The occasional trollish hunters and warriors that showed up to deliver their foods - mostly meat and game - further intimidated them from acting out, involuntarily.
- “Now is not a good time. Once the situation eases up, I will reconsider letting them form their own groups. Until then, tell them to be patient for the Ranger teams to search for them.”
- “I will relay this to them.”
- “Speaking of which, Faenas, what’s the situation with the rangers? Do they need anything?”
The ranger captain provided much of the manpower needed for operations outside the forest and interacting with humans as they were most familiar with them.
- “The rotation shifts are doing quite well. With the promise of extra provisions of meat, there are many volunteers applying, too many even. Ones that are currently working are a little tired but very satisfied with their extra allotment.”
Food, especially meat was borderline luxury products for the elves, even with a stable source. Alicia simply asked what she could offer to the elves from Faenas to recruit their help; and after learning that meat was still a prized product she had found her payment. Since then, elves applying for ranger training surged to an all time high, and semi-militia life was even seen as an even more prestigious position - with extra benefits of course.
- “Time for a new shift then?”
- “Of course, replacing them is not the problem there are plenty of volunteers; the ones currently in service will grumble from being called back in.”
- “I thought that they said that they were tired…?”
- “They never did, and they never will admit it. I just noticed it, that's all. After all, for them, less time in service, less provisions for them.”
- “Ah…
‘Workaholics much?’
The rangers had earned the quiet recognition of the Araneae Ordinals that had gathered in the room. An honest service to their mistress was not to go unnoticed. Though both Alicia and Faenas were none the wiser to this reticent ennoblement.
“I think it's more important that they’re not too strained from the assignments.”
- “I concur. The next group will be ready for tasking as soon as the current detachment returns.”
- “Is that all?”
- “Will there be changes to our operations, milady?”
Representing the others, Alpha inquired.
- “Not entirely, no. Their numbers are larger than expected but we will continue as planned.”
With the meeting coming to a close, just before everyone dispersed:
- “Shouldn’t the other girl be here too, where did she go?”
Rosalia knew that Alicia often corresponded with a certain taciturn girl nearly every day. Not many knew of her, but besides Alicia’s, all of the Ordinals and the Araneae under them held her word as law - rarely as it came. That alone told anyone with any tact and a modicum of logic, that she had just as much influence and, most importantly as much power as Alicia did. Someone that important being absent in a meeting like this was highly unusual.
- “Oh you mean Alice? She was getting a little antsy from idling, so she decided to go for a walk with Frost in tow.”
‘Now that I think about it… do cats need walks like dogs…? Should I get Anna to do it in the future? I mean, they need activity… hm…’
Since mothering the twins, and ensuring their safe development Alice was more or less lost. Although she did not understand it fully, her species, after laying a clutch, started an instinctive procedure that started a slow process of dissolving themselves from the inside out by overriding the hunting and feeding instincts and increasing production of digestive fluids. The mother would not survive this process, however the resulting residue from this process was full of nutrition, suitable for providing sustenance for the hatched broodlings. That is how it has always been and how it should have been. The process was interrupted by Alicia, through what could only be described as sentimental attachment. It was meaningless in the end. They were one and same, though separated through magical means, there was far more intrinsic connection between them. She learned of this from the voice that guided the both of them.
>Note. Administrator judgment inaccurate. Cessation of individual administrative unit inconsequential. Subsistence of Anima essential.
In the event of cessation of a separate administrative unit, individuated Anima will be repatriated to secondary host unit. Repatriation event will not cause a reunification surge. Unary hosts will suffer from Repatriation fatigue until the host has recovered completely.
She did not comprehend the words and their meanings through understanding, but through implicit apperception. So long as one of them persists, the other may not truly taste death. So, even if she had died then, she would have returned to Alicia, perhaps once again as a voiceless being, a silent spectator. Yet that was not meant to be. So lives, lost and confused. Her goal in life - the successful propagation of offspring - had been accomplished, what was there to do? She had no answer for it yet. So she asked the only one she knew and trusted to answer for her.
- “What is the meaning of your life…? When did you get this philosophical? I don’t even know the meaning of life in general and you’re dropping that kind of bomb on me? Okay, truthfully, I don’t know. We-… well, humans, before, did many meaningless things in the grander scope of things. Perhaps we are still looking for it till this day, searching for our place and meaning in the universe. Maybe do some meaningless things, you might find something meaningful from it. Must have worked for some people. Try arts maybe?”
To make sense of the senseless, to find meaning from the meaningless. How pointless. But that was human nature and also the reason she was out and about. She did just as she was told, perusing through the memories of Alicia to find it. Only artful things she could pull from her recollections were the self defense arts, from the youthful depths of her memory. Living through her experiences, absorbing it as much as she can.
Following a pattern of vibration Alice recognised as slow stampede she judged it to be of humans. Where she was, she was extremely far from the perimeter of defensive webbings and their alarm line and the patrolled area of the Direwolves. She was practically at the edge of the forest. Frost followed her, mostly because she saw it as an excuse to stretch her legs without running into something dangerous, as she knew the Araneae could steer very well far from monsters. Despite technically being her attendant for the occasion Frost did not need to protect Alice. Rather it was most likely the other way around…
After a short while, Alice found the humans in question. The usual ragged clothes over boiled leather scale armor, above average equipment - far out the league of the usual thug’s, measured march like steps. The hallmark signs of a now familiar group of people. Alicia’s past memories were replaying in her mind, guiding her now.
« Twin Souls »
‹ Anamnesis ›
‘…best self defense is the one where you don’t have to fight. Avoid confrontations, verbally de-escalate the situation if you can…- -…sometimes, you might have to stand your ground, then make a clear warning without being provocative…-’
‘Warning…’
Most of them were carrying backpacks filled with logging equipment. They were moving cautiously in small numbers, so that they didn't draw too much attention. It was clear all of them were tense with how often they looked over their shoulders and to their side, jumping with the smallest of sounds. It was then, a voice spoke out to them.
- “…Leave… Now…”
Subdued gasps and disquieted murmur spread among them as they froze in their tracks. Looking around they found a young girl well-dressed in an alien fashion with piercing red eyes barring their way. Next to her stood a lithiline in a servant’s attire, evidenced by the vertical slits in her green eyes, the feline set of ears and a tail playfully swinging side to side behind her. Where did they come from, who were they.
- “You’re trespassing on someone else’s territory, you know?”
Questions and more questions. To them they somehow appeared right in front of them, a terrifying concept considering they were on high alert, looking everywhere and they still somehow managed to slip past their attention. Already jumpy, and now terrified one of the soldiers speaks to the one leading their march.
- “My liege, the locals say these woods be hauntedlike. And those… people in front of us don’t seem normal, perhaps we should return. Tis’ only lumber, we can get it from anywhere else.”
- “Superstitious nonsense! The orders dictate it has to come from the black forest. You lot want lashes for disobedience? Look at them, two kids! Probably some country merchant’s daughter with their servant that got lost out on a walk. Go and capture them before they start running, we can’t let anyone know we were here!”
With a stern promise of lashes and bravado the leader commanded his small group to seize the two.
- “Oh my… now what, mistress dearest?”
In spite of her worrying words, her teasing delivery made it abundantly clear that the grimalkin was not taking the situation with a single shred of seriousness. Frost, now without a collar weighing down on her neck, free of disease and parasites, wielding the shrouded boon of the void was unperturbed by the armed men in front of them. Trimmed and retracted claws lengthened once more with faint violet. Alice hovered her hands over the “metal fangs” as it were, reclaimed from a certain assassin’s body. Again she scrolls through Alicia’s experiences…
‘-…always let them throw the first punch, as long as you throw the last one, that way you don’t get into legal problems afterwards. Remember it's self defense only if you’re protecting yourself-…’
- “Let them attack first… then protect…”
- “How interesting…”
Losing herself to the instincts of these memories Alice took up a stance: one hand forwards at chin height, the other low and close to her body. It was her first time taking this posture, yet it felt natural as if she had practiced it hundreds of times before.
‘-…only use your fists against soft targets: guts, the flanks and the like. Against bones or anything hard, open hand palm strikes-… …-you’ll only injure yourself if you’re careless, and the last thing you want in a fight, is to have a shagged hand that you can’t use…- -…now same thing with joints, it is the weakest part of the bone structure, give it good hit and you’ll easily incapacitate your attacker…-’
Emboldened by their superior’s command the few soldiers walked up to them. Alice didn’t quite grasp the meaning of the self defense arts, however she did follow one principle: it had to be non-lethal. They reached out, foolishly stretching their hands within her range, to seize her. It was then that her terrifying strength came to bear. Alice, when she was separate from Alicia, had a diminutive height and extremely youthful appearance, often being mistaken for a child, especially when she was using human Mimicry. The twins were barely shorter than her, and that wouldn’t be the case for long either. Deceived by her appearance the men that tried to quickly grab and overpower her quickly learned of their misconception.
Before they could react, she had quickly grabbed the gloved hand that extended towards her and struck against its back with enough force to dislocate the wrists. His sturdy gloves dampened the hit somewhat, avoiding an outright fracture, but that wasn’t any less painful. Just as the pain shot up and through the rest of the arm, she forcefully yanked the man taller than her to make him fall down to her level where she would have better access to the sod’s elbow - her next target. Now holding him by the forearms and having him stumbling towards her she had his elbows fully extended before viciously striking it from the side, forcing it to crack in a direction it was never meant to bend. It all happened in a fraction of a second. One moment a healthy, well built soldier was approaching a young girl, the next he was on the ground, thrashing in pain holding onto one of his arms, howling bloody murder.
One of the soldiers that tried laying hands on frost, ran back towards his colleagues covering his face after a flash of white and violet came over him for a moment. In his blind hysteria he tripped on some undergrowth and smashed his head against a nearby tree, knocking himself out cold. Without him covering his face and staying still, everyone could see what had happened to him. Countless scratches and lacerations all over his body and face, even on his eyelids. The clothes and armor, slightly darkening from being soaked in fresh blood suggested injuries and bleeding from underneath them. The crimson fluid on the tips of the perpetrator’s claws further reinforced this theory. Yet there was not a single scratch or damage to his armor let alone his clothes. Somehow, undeniably her claws had run through the man’s armor like a sword through water and shredded his flesh directly as if he had worn nothing at all. The cuts were all thin and shallow, barely enough to draw blood, the man was covered from head to toe on paper cuts, just the movement from breathing in caused extreme pain. The feline however, seemed rather amused by her handiwork. The sounds and scene struck abject terror into the men, who now realised, they should have heeded the warning…
But Alice was just getting the hang of this whole “Self defense arts” thing. It would be a shame to let it come to a premature end… Knees, shoulders, ankles, all the joints she didn’t try breaking yet. The sternum, the solar plexus, and the guts, all the places she hadn’t struck yet. They would all become her practice dummies, whether they wanted to be one or not…
Alicia was inspired to check in on her counterpart by Rosalia's questions, only to come into the disastrous scene. Bodies twisted and mangled in all different directions, as if someone had made a terrible attempt at folding a paper plane out of them, were sprawled all over the forest floor. Armor plates dented and deformed as if struck by great force. Bruisings internal and external, inflammations all over their bodies, pool of foul smelling liquid Alicia identified as someone’s emptied stomach contents from the bits and pieces of food and grain floating in it, presumably some poor fool’s breakfast. Some were still half-conscious, barely able to whimper, even the simple action of breathing seemed to cause unimaginable pain.
- “What the hell happened here?”
Of course the artist behind the disaster, Alice, was standing in the middle of her fine work.
- “incapacitated… no-killings…”
Alice had exuded an energy and behavior that seemed to say “Praise me, I did well.”
- “Well… They are alive… and if that’s what you aimed for you did a good job? I think they’d rather be dead though… You and I are gonna have a little talk about what ‘incapacitate non-lethally’ means.
But I guess we were going to have to deal with these guys eventually, I don’t know if they were lucky or unlucky that it was you that came across them…”
She also noticed Frost casually grooming herself on a tree branch completely unfazed.
- “And you, just watched it happen I presume?”
- “No, I sharpened my claws on their armor, it was tough enough to get a good hone on it. It was itching for something.”
Letting out a lengthy sigh;
- “Right, I don’t have anything to say to you. Next time use a tree bark or something.”
Also I have found the next species to be featured, or rather their smaller more fitting cousin.
