Reborn 10 - Demonic Valor (3 page)

It wasn’t the first time that the laws that had been in place bothered Ash, but he knew that he simply trying to force the issue wouldn’t work and would only end in him wasting valuable time.

Throughout the meeting, more and more clan heads began to show up and by the end of the day, only seven were missing and they were the ones that belonged to the clans that lived at the far end of the kingdom. The sage assured Ash that they would arrive by tomorrow morning. He hoped so, otherwise the war conference would have to be lengthened and though it would only be by one or two days, it was time that they didn’t really have to play with.

As he thought about this, Ash started to think he should have left his training a bit earlier, but the sage assured him that it wouldn’t have really have made much of a difference as they had to have enough time to inform all the clan heads of the coming meeting and that was only done a few days before he left for his own palace.

After the meeting, Ash ate a large meal with the gathered clan heads and they talked about his previous life and what his plans were for the demon race. When Ash mentioned that he planned to bring the demons back into the outside world, he thought he would receive more than a little dissension, but no one seemed to think it was a bad idea. In fact more than a few thought it was far past time they had joined the rest of the world instead of hiding away from it. Once that was passed, the tension that had been building with him throughout the day seemed to evaporate and Ash enjoyed the rest of the meal talking with the clan heads as if they were old friends.

10-4

The few missing clan heads arrived the next morning as promised but Ash was still forced to length the war council by one day due to the large amount of ideas that were being brought up. That alone could have been finished on time but Ash didn’t think that he was expected to assign the commanders to any post that was considered important.

Having no real knowledge of who would be good for what post Ash could only listen to the suggestions made by the clan heads. Not even the sage was of much help since it was almost impossible to know the name and abilities of each person within such a large number of people.

Each clan head nominated someone from their own clan for each post and Ash was forced to choose between them. No matter what decision he made there would be a number of people who were not happy about it but since a decision had to be made he did it and hoped it would work out. Once all the positions were appointed the council was over and a large feast was prepared. Out of the forty-two clan heads only nine of them would be participating in the war itself. Most of the others would be remaining within the kingdom to help with logistic and support.

The night after the meetings were finally finished Ash didn’t sleep well but that was due to the fact that in the morning he and the others would be flying over the mountain to join the few demons who were already camped awaiting the start of battle.

The next morning before Ash was going to set off he received the news that Emelia had pulled back all her forces to the partially complete fort outside the capital. Ash wasn’t sure if it was a good move or not but the sage and the other demons seemed to applaud it. When they saw Ash’s confused look Tolarea voiced the answer to his unspoken question.

“When greatly outnumbered it is best to consolidate your forces in one defensible place rather than to string them out. Tough her chances to win the war are extremely slime she has a lot better chance this way to hold out for much longer. In a way you could say she is playing a game of chance with time, but it is still a smart bet on her part.”

Ash didn’t respond and merely kicked the flanks of his steed making it jump into the air. He had done his best not to think about Emelia over the past weeks. Not because he was bothered by thoughts of her but bothered by the fact that he had left her in the dark about whether he was alive or dead. Emelia was a strong woman but she also had her soft side even if she hid it in front of everyone but him.

Once he was in the air Ash couldn’t help but keep his eyes on the ground. The Maoh’s palace was not located in the center of the country but instead was located only a couple dozen miles from what had used to be the mountain pass between the demon country and the human kingdom that had once been there.

The reason for this was simple enough. The humans and demons had to visit often in order to coordinate the many wars and the humans didn’t want the demons within their own lands so they would send people to visit the demon lord. To make this easier the demons had built their palace near the border between the two countries.

When Ash had read the history of the demons it was not hard to see what the humans really thought of the demons at the time. Yet it was as if the demons didn’t even notice that they were nothing but tools even to the humans they had made friends with. When he had asked the sage about it the look on the sage’s face had soured.

“You must understand the demons had never had much contact with anyone outside the facility where they were created. When they first came across the humans it was a small group of knights who had fought under the goddess’s name during the annihilation of the mage’s experimental facility. At that time the demons numbered less than a thousand and under the orders of the king they were placed at edge of what would be become their new kingdom. Then it was only a vast sea of trees that were filled with dangerous monsters. As the years passed the number of demons started to increase and the land began to be cleared. Then came a small war and the king called upon the demons for aid. During their first battle the power of the demons were seen and that was the start of the vast war the devastated the continent for nearly a hundred year.”

When the sage explained it to Ash it seemed reasonable but it was still hard for him to accept. Shaking the thoughts away Ash looked down in time to see a large number of demons at the edge of the mountain range. Ash knew that they were the soldiers that were waiting to be moved across. They were men who were marked to fight and if need be die if needed.

Soon the sight of the demons disappeared and all that Ash could see was the gray stone and white snow of the mountain as they passed over. This was the second time that Ash had passed over the mountain but it was the first time he had done so awake.

The mountain was much larger than he had expected but each second that passed the scenery of the mountain changed slightly. It was much more different than flying over a forest which simply looked as if he was flying over a green blanket. It was beautiful but it quickly got old. The mountain on the other hand changed every second.

It took a little over two hours to fly over the mountain but Ash had been so absorbed in his own thoughts and the surrounding view that the time had passed by quickly. As the scenery changed from gray back to green Ash looked and tried to find the demons who were awaiting him below but die to the trees he couldn’t even see a hint of the ground below. Ash pulled back on his eagle’s reigns letting it know to slow down as he watched the sage. Once the sage started to descend Ash followed suite by leaning forward in his saddle and pulling down on the right reign then the left.  As the large bird started to tighten its circles as it lowered toward the ground Ash looked off in the direction of Emelia but even from his height al he could see was the blue sky in the distance.

Once they neared the tops of the trees the bird stop circling as it looked for an opening in the foliage so that it could land. After a few moments the bird spotted what it was looking for a dived through the tops of the trees landing hard on the ground below. Unlike when it landed in the open land there was no for the bird to slow itself so the landing was rough leaving Ash’s stomach in his throat.

After dismounting Ash looked around but couldn’t see any sign of the sage or the others. “Can anyone hear me?” Ash yelled loudly.

“Over here my lord,” Ash heard Celina’s musical voice yell from his left.

Soon more and more voices began to call out and Ash started moving in the direction of the loudest. It didn’t take long before the companions were reunited. Once they were all back together they sage led them to the east where the large camp of demons were supposed to be waiting.

As soon as they neared the camp Ash started to see tents hung in-between trees. They were done differently than he had seen other army camps do before and in a way helped mask the presence of the force. If he had been with humans they would have looked for a large cleaning or during the long stay would have cleared some of the land themselves to make it more accommodating. The demons on the other hand didn’t chop down a single tree and instead used them as support poles for their tents since the root filled ground made it hard to place anything more than a few feet deep into it. Seeing as how for the past countless years the demons had only fought against each other, it was a smart move. It didn’t make sense to hide in open ground when your enemy could fly though as far as Ash knew none of the humans had such an ability.

Near what Ash figured was the center of the camp they found a large tent with four trees sticking out from the top. They were greeted by two armed guards then quickly let inside. One through the flap of the tent they found an imposing demon with green skin awaiting them.

“Greetings my lord I am Uthla and the current commander of the forces you saw outside,” the demon said with a slight bow of his bald head.

After the greetings Ash started to explain the current plans that had been decided during the war council the day before. The commander listened without interrupting though from the look on his face though Ash could tell that there were a few time that he wanted to. When Uthla heard that he would be left as the commander of the force he looked surprised. It was one of the many decisions he had been forced to decide on. Since Uthla had already been on site Ash no reason to have him disposed so he decided to allow him to continue on as the commander.

“Thank you for your trust my lord,” Uthla said bowing once again.

“I know none of the people who were suggested for the post so trusting you was just the same as any of the others if I were to tell the truth,” Ash said. “That said if you do well it could guarantee you a great post within the kingdom. It is one of the benefits to serving a new ruler who has no other ties within the kingdom.”

“I shall endeavor to do my best,” Uthla said holding his hand over his chest in a form of salute.

“Well my lord they are preparing your tent as we speak,” Uthla said. “While we wait would you like to have a tour of the camp and here what we have learned thus far about the duchy’s defense and the enemy’s current forces.”

“Yes I would like that very much,” Ash replied nodding his head.

The camp was much more spread out than Ash would have thought. Around the edges of the camp the demons had asset up a hasty defense and camouflage just in case someone stumbled to close. Using their abilities and magic they caused large brambles to grow. They couldn’t completely block out everything but they made it nearly impossible for the camp to be discovered without the people who stumble on it being discovered.

The news on the duchy’s defense was not much different than what Ash had head back in his palace. Emelia had ordered all of her forces to pull back to the capital while at the same time sending out a general notice that any villagers who see enemy forces to retreat and hide and by no means approach them.

The news on the enemy armies was much more detailed than he had heard before. They still hadn’t crossed into the duchy territories yet through they were close to the brooder and since two days before they had started to move. Just as the clan heads had expected the kings forces started to move once they had enough supplies prepared. The number was larger than they had expected but not by much. They vastly outnumbered Emelia’s forces but they weren’t expecting a demon army to flank them so not only would they have superior numbers but they would also have the element of surprise.

Once his and his wives tents were ready he retired for the night along with all the reports that Uthla had prepared upon his request. Most of them had to do with scout reports but others told him how much food and supplies that the current force was using. While the information wasn’t really needed by Ash he thought it would be a good idea to get a full grasp of the situation in case he found himself in a similar position in the future.

10-5

Six days passed quickly with little for Ash to do. Even the large number of reports only took a quarter of the first day to completely go through. After the second time reading through them Ash found himself staring at the papers that talked about Emelia even if it was just in passing.

Once he grew tired of staring at papers Ash started to venture into the camp to meet the soldiers. At first he was a little apprehensive about meeting those that he might be sending to their deaths but Tolarea urged him to show his face.

In the beginning he was nervous but from the actions and look on the soldier’s faces they were as well. It was once again Tolarea who broke the tension between the two groups when she started dragging soldiers to spar against them. At first the soldiers were against fighting against their lord but when Tolarea explained that she and the others guards were still new and needed to practice on how to work as a group many of the soldiers began to join in. Ash himself never fought much during the battles as it was his job to play the useless protected lord though he would quickly grow tired of the role and ask one of the more skilled soldiers to fight one on one without the use of skills or abilities.

It had been so long since Ash had fought merely based on skill. 90% of the demons that were in the camp belonged to the same clan though there were a few of the others mixed in. they were a large yet agile race of demons with green skin and light scales coving their back and chest. From the sages explanation it was believed that they were a mix of lizard based monsters which made them of use in a variety of situations since they could move quickly in almost any terrain.

With their speed and agility they used mainly bows and daggers and their fighting style reminded him of how Shina fought. It was challenging to fight against them but with his stats and personal skill with a sword Ash found that one of the demons were his equal one on one. If they were like Tolarea and had absurd strength then they might be able to cause him a problem but with them fighting with speed like he did they were at a disadvantage. Soon Ash started to fight against two demons at a time then three. Three made it hard for him to keep his pace and two out of three times he would lose. Ash didn’t feel bad about this but instead it was what he wanted. He knew that he didn’t have enough experience when fighting against superior number and with the war that was coming it was something that he would need to know otherwise the chance of losing his own life would be increased greatly.

Ash wanted to continue his training but today more soldiers were going to be arriving. One of the main addition to the troops were mages who used a mixture of wind and light magic to cast illusions. They were mainly skilled in small operations and extremely deadly when used for infiltration since their magic could increase their speed and help them disguise themselves as anything they wanted. Though it wasn’t what they were mainly used for their main role in this war would be helping disguise the current forces so that they could expand the number of troops currently present.

Other than the mages there would also be more melee soldiers coming to join the ranks. There would also be more officers that would be joining them as well to help command the new troops.

The setup of the army was easy to understand. For every twenty regular troops there was a sergeant. Once there was ten sergeants a Lieutenant was place over them. After three Lieutenants there was a captain. If there was three Lieutenants a general was placed over them.

Right now there hadn’t been a need for a general yet but soon there would be but since Ash was taking over the forces he would currently hold that post. If the forces grew so much that he couldn’t keep up with them a second general would be appointed to help pick up the slack.

Ash couldn’t meet with all the soldiers and even meeting all the officers was nearly impossible and while he did try and get out to mingle with the common troops most of his time would be spent with the captains once the new troops arrived and the preparations for the war started in earnest.

Ash didn’t meet the new commanders as soon as they arrived instead he allowed them to get settled into their positions while at the same time a letter was sent to the commander leading the forces within the capital so that he could be present during the coming discussion.

It was three days after the new soldiers arrived that Ash first sat down with the new commanders. It was not as if he had not met any of them but mostly he had only greeted them in passing while he was out amongst the common troops. It was not only him and Tolarea that was moving amid the troops either. Each one of his wives moved around working with the troops and their commanders in any way they could. It was hard for Ash to remember but his wives were amount the elite of each of their tribes younger generation. They had been given the best training and resources so in many ways they were much more skilled than a common troops not to mention their levels were much higher than the average soldiers.

Celina having the same standard fighting style of most the troops worked with them daily. Ash had feared that it would cause problems with Uthla but instead he was quite happy with the troop’s small advancements.

Seia worked with the few archers within the group from time to time but mostly spent her time hunting for Ash’s supper. It wasn’t that the army camp didn’t have good food but it was mostly bland food that was made for a large number of people and while filling was not that tasty.

Li spent her mornings and evenings cooking for Ash but when she was not in the kitchen she moved among the troops healing any wounds they might have received during training. Ash did this as well so that he could help increase his abilities level but the troops were much more comfortable asking Li for help than him.

Mia created a small farm at the edges of the camp where she used her nature magic to grow vegetables. The rest of the time she spent moving amount the woods helping Seia hunt. Ash still didn’t know much about nature magic since it was what they called a melded or unique magic.

Tina spent most of her time taking care of the large hawks that had been moved to a small pin in the center of the camp. The birds didn’t like the forest and at first would squawk noisily all night but now that Tina groomed them each day they had started to quiet down.

Gena like Tolarea never left Ash’s side but she didn’t involve herself in the battles and remained silently at his side watching anyone close to him with narrowed eyes. Ash knew that she had no problem talking like Li did but when she was working she was almost like a moving statue.

Eun spent most of her time with the commander Uthla and reporting everything back to Ash. The main reason for her post was because she and Uthla had trained together when they were younger since the two were close together in age and their clans were close to each other. It was also Eun who had spoken up and helped Uthla keep his post. If Ash had been the jealous type he might have suspected something untoward but given how many wives he had Ash didn’t have the time to worry about every one of the actions.

Though each one of his wives had things they tended to throughout the day today they were all by his side as he sat in the large command tent waiting on the officers to arrive.

Taking a deep breath Ash look up at the dark green cloth ceiling of the tent then looked back to the group of demons gathered before him. There were far more than he had anticipated. It seemed that the clan heads had moved fast after leaving his palace and almost all of the commanders were present.

“We have received new that the enemy forces are less than two weeks away from the duchy capital,” Ash said trying to keep his tone even. “I am sure that each of you have received your orders but I wanted to bring you all together at least once so that we could make sure that everyone was sure of their part in the coming battle.”

When none of the commanders said anything Ash continued. “We are expecting that the enemy forces will surround the fort and erect siege weapons before attacking but if they directly assault the fort then we will have to skip the first to plans of action and move directly to their third…So please keep that in mind.”

“First for the positions and jobs. We have the first advanced company that is within the city itself. Your job is to make sure the citizens stay safe and to fight off any enemy troops that try to scale the wall. If everything goes as predicted they enemy will pay little attention to the city until the fort has fallen or unless they start to run down on supplies. If that is the case you may use your best judgment on how to hinder the enemy during the main battle.”

“Understood,” the commander said nodding his head while his hand was rested gently on his chin.

“Second is the second through seventh phoenix companies. You are the main fighting force of the army. You job is to attack the enemy forces on the side when they are occupied with the fort. This should throw them into disarray and allow our other forces to be more effective.”

“The first and third mage companies will use fire and earth magic to help heard the enemy to the north when they try to retreat. While the second through forty flying corps will sword down from the north after they have been fully committed to retreating. Do we have any questions?”

“What if they do not retreat?” the commander of the flying corps asked.

“Then I don’t want you to expose yourself. If they entrench their forces and prepare to fight it out we will pull back and reevaluate our choices.”

A few other questions were asked but for the most part everyone knew what they were supposed to do during the battle since Ash and the sage had tried to keep it simple. There were a number of problems that could occur during the battle but each commander was given enough leeway that they could make decisions if things do not go as planned.

After the meeting Ash retired to his personal tent to look over the new reports that had come in. Not only did it have troop number but it also have the average level and equipment of each group. The reason Ash asked for this was just because of the war but because he knew he was still lacking in common knowledge.

The army was broken up into three types of troops; common, advance, and elite troops. Even though the demons had been created for war there were some that were still better built to fight than others. The common troops had only one to two abilities and the average level of a soldier was forty-three. The advanced groups had three to four abilities and had an average level of forty-seven. Lastly the elite troops had five or more abilities and their levels average was forty-five.

Ash was more than a little startled when he found that the average level was the same but then again the number of abilities one had did change how good a person could fight during a battle.

Just like humans demons also had guild-like groups though it was all based on army. Every demon joined their clan’s army and gained one of four jobs. There were a few cases where a demon was born within a clan who didn’t have any abilities that would be good with a job the clan had and they were often sent to another clan if they were acceptable.

Ash had once asked the sage how jobs were made. It seemed that the description of the gods helping make them was mostly a lie. Each guild or job center was made of a large crystal that was made from processing monster cores and turning them into soul crystals. The small one that Ash used when he advanced to his second profession level could be made from two processed monster cores while the large ones which were the source of the guilds skills that had been saved over the years cost fifty cores to make at a minimal.

From the way the sage explained it the soul crystals worked like an ability scroll instead it was reusable and could be loaded with any skill that a person made on their own. Ash knew that one could receive a job title even if they didn’t go to a guild as the heavens would assign it but that person would have to create their own skills. It seemed that at one point one of these people learned how to make a soul creature so that they could pass down their jobs and skills to the next generation.

Thanks to this even if the soldier’s levels were close to being even there was a vast difference in their jobs and what skills and abilities they could use. The elite members got a higher level job and were offered more advanced and desirable skills. It seemed a little unfair but no matter where one looked in life they would find that some people were born with talent while others weren’t and while some could overcome this with hard work the majority could not.

While the soldiers levels were all close to each other the same could not be said of the commanders.  The weakest of the officers was only at level forty-one while the strongest was level eighty-seven. In fact there were a number of high level regular soldiers though most of them were soldiers. The only reason the average level was so low was because most of the troops were only around level twenty.

Though Ash was able to level up fairly easy once you reached level twenty it became incredibly hard and time consuming to reach the next level. The humans used the party formation to level up but the demons didn’t do the same thing. In fact many demons died every year during training. The reason for this was because that the demons felt that outside of sparing leveling should be done by one’s own skill. It was for that reason that only people of the shame level were paired together to train within the labyrinth.

Ash could see the reasoning behind the demon’s decision. A person without training with a sword would be far weaker than a person with training no matter what their level. The same could be said with how to use ones abilities and skills. Ash had already learned firsthand the difference between having an ability and understanding how to use it. If a person was forced to borrow another person’s power in order to gain levels then the levels were never truly their own and they would be far weaker than a person of the same level who gained it through their own power. There stats might be close to the same but the experience in real battles between the two would be vastly different.