Chapter 5: The Dishonourable Plan

 

Inside Klauna’s personal tent, was Klauna herself and two other Analysts. The older male Analyst rogue Balestraliamania Analyst and the more novice rogue, Poilautenula Analyst.

“The enemies seemed to have fixed the trenches and reinforced them with wood. I don’t think our bombardment spell is going to corrode the ground like previously," Balestra reported to Klauna, his voice clear.

“Doesn’t matter, it only means we need to increase our barrage intensity. What about their numbers? Have they gotten any reinforcement? Any new equipments?” Klauna asked further.

Balestra took a moment to think before giving a clear response. “We couldn’t discern during our initial investigation but we believe that there hasn’t been any new acquisition of the sort. Their numbers are less than our previous estimates. But still about four times our own.”

“It seemed the victory we got the other day barely made a dent in their numbers, that's disappointing,” Poi remarked.

Klauna ignored Poi and continued asking: “What about their morale?”

“Nothing worth reporting,” Balestra replied.

Klauna gave a nod towards Balestra before looking towards Poi— looking to find an answer from her as well.

Poi’s heart beat wildly for a short while. She answered Klauna the best she could. "Th-they seemed to be down yesterday night when they were mourning the dead, but now they look hellbent on staying there.”

Klauna nodded at her response. “Anything else?”

“That’s all I have to report for now Captain Klauna,” Balestra said and gave Klauna a salute. Poi who was next to her Senior also gave a salute.

“I see. By the way, have any of you two seen Harbin around?” Klauna waved for them to be at ease.

“I believe I saw Harbin around the main tent,” Poi responded.

“So she’s already there... I will be taking my leave then. Make sure to brief the others about the plan,” Klauna said before starting to leave the place. 

She made three steps before turning around again. “I almost forgot. Balestra, could you do me a favour?”

“What it is that you request of me?” He responded.

“I need you to find where the liquor is being held in the warehouse. Have an access plan ready and a cart nearby to extract them at a moment’s notice. Get the others to assist you if need be,” Klauna ordered the two before wobbling her way to the main tent.

It seemed that she was still having a hangover.

“To think that Captain Klauna would go this far to have her drink huh,” Poi commented after she had confirmed that Klauna had walked away far enough so that she wouldn’t hear them.

“I’m sure she has her reason for ordering us to do so," Balestra responded.

“You really put a lot of trust into Captain Klauna don't you, Senior Balestra? She could really just want a drink you know?”

“I’ve known her for quite a while now. She doesn’t just give orders like that without a reason. Or at least without a proper one,” Balestra said as he left the tent to do his duties. Poi followed behind.

“…yeah. She’s not that kind of person. Then why?” Poi asked her senior.

“I don’t know,” Balestra answered simply.

He wasn’t the type to question the orders of his superiors. Whatever is asked of him, he does. That is what it means to be a rogue in the Seventh Army. They both were silent throughout the rest of the journey to the warehouse tent. But Poi’s head was filled with questions and thoughts about why Klauna would order them to do such a thing.

 

* * * * *

 

As mentioned yesterday, General Lionel had ordered for another meeting. This time to discuss battle plans. All the captains and their aides were to be present and everyone else on alert, ready to move out at a moment’s notice.

“Captain Klauna!” Harbin greeted Klauna as she arrived at the main tent. Harbin was just standing by the entrance, clutching the grimoire.

"Has the meeting started?" Klauna asked. 

"Not yet. Senior Yuupiecca says he won't be attending as he needs to rally the Analyst." 

"I see," Klauna walked past Harbin and entered the tent, which Harbin soon follow suit. 

The two walked silently for a short while before Harbin opened up with a question. "Umm Captain Klauna… What happened in there yesterday? Everyone seemed to be angrier now. I got a new record of men trying to hit on me yesterday night. Literally hitting," She let out a snarl.

"Don't know. I wasn't really paying attention. Just them yapping at me like usual I guess," Klauna replied.

"I see…" Harbin replied, massaging her temples.

They walked until they reached a certain door— the door to the meeting room. Before entering, Klauna looked towards Harbin.

"Be careful in there. They will target you when they notice that they can't target me," Klauna gave a word of warning to Harbin. "Just keep calm and ignore them."

"...alright." Harbin nodded with a gulp.

Nodding to her answer, Klauna pushed opened the door and the two Analysts entered the room. In the room were all the captains gathering around a big table with a map and markers on it— their aides next to them. Everybody gave the two Analyst weird stares as they walked towards their designated position. Some stares of indifference and some stares of disappointment. But mostly stares of hate and dissent. Everyone stood in that position in quiet, waiting for the general to arrive. 

The wait was nerve-racking for Harbin and she could be seen shifting her body around uncomfortably. Klauna, on the other hand, was calmer, rather she didn't give a damn about how the other Ak'hims were looking at her.

A few minutes later and Lionel arrived with Cera by his side. He wore his standard uniform with a lion's mane as a cape. In his hand was a spear, the banner of the Seventh Army hanging on it. He looked to confirm that everyone was there before signalling to everyone that they can begin the meeting.

The Vice General gave everyone her opening speech before telling everyone about their current situation. Everyone listened earnestly.

"As you all know, the enemy has completely halted our advance and this stalemate has gone on for weeks already. Our assaults on the enemies position had been fruitless, and despite our overwhelming victory yesterday, the humans only entrenched themselves further," Cera briefed everyone on the overall situation, pointing towards the pieces of markers on the map.

Finished with her opening statement, Cera nodded towards Lionel. 

Lionel then spoke out. "Our orders are clear. We are to push onwards, as deep into human territory as possible. The Demon Lord expects progress in this war and will accept no less. We need a way to breach that trench. I want to hear the opinion of everyone."

The room went silent for a while, everyone tried to digest the information laid out in front of them. They tried to think about how to assault the enemy's position. Everyone except Klauna who really was just there for formalities. She stared blankly into the map while fiddling with her hair. It was too troublesome for her to think so she didn't.

"Bah! They are just humans, we should just gather up and charge right in! Compared to before, humans are considerably less now. What do you think? We get to fight a worthwhile and honourable battle! Gahaha," a muscle brained Warrior said out loud.

Klauna thought that the idea was stupid. They've already tried that before and suffered great losses. The enemies outnumber them in an entrenched position. It would not be an honourable death. It will just be a pointless death.

However, not everyone at that table thinks the same as Klauna. Most of the younger and more battle spirited demons agreed to the plan. Almost half the people present. 

Luckily, the plan was shot down by the more conservative of demons who are of the opinion that throwing themselves into the humans mindlessly was no different than inviting the humans into the camp to slaughter them. Lionel agreed with that sentiment.

"Besides, we've already tried that stupid," a skimpish wearing Succour said out loud to the meathead. Clothes so revealing that she’s two steps away from being naked.

"Tch," the Warrior clicked his tongue.

"What about if we dig a tunnel underneath their position? We can crawl right into their backline and into these trenches. Us Saboteurs can dig the tunnels within hours," a Saboteur wearing a black mask offered his opinion.

“And get dirt onto my clothing? Definitely not!” The skimpy Succour said. “Don’t you agree with me Medica?”

“...yes captain,” Medica, her Succour aide responded. Unlike her, Medica was dressed more prim and proper.

“See? Are you expecting us to crawl like insects?” the skimpy Succour said and the other demons nodded.

“It was only a suggestion...” The Saboteur replied.

It seemed like the majority of the demons here didn’t like the plan. Klauna thought it was a pretty decent idea. However, the issue is that the enemy will be able to corner them after getting out of the tunnel. There was also the matter of what would happen if the enemy collapses the tunnel during the fighting. Results will be catastrophic.

“What if… we attack during the night? We could use the veil of darkness to cover our advance to the trench,” Kazakiel, the Cunning said his idea.

“The result will still be the same. We are still outnumbered four to one. The kind of protection the darkness can provide will not help with that,” Klauna responded.

Harbin could be seen visibly shocked when Klauna replied. The demons in the room shot Klauna a weird look. Some of them glared at her and Harbin. Her response wasn’t well received. Despite all this, Klauna just continued staring blankly at the map fiddling her hair without care. 

“Then what about you Captain Klauna? What is your idea?” Lionel asked Klauna when the room went quiet and everyone has exhausted their ideas.

Everyone rolled their eyes when the general asked for her opinion. “General, you are going to ask this drunkard for advice?” A demon asked.

“I’m here to listen to everyone’s opinion. Including hers. I wouldn’t have called everyone here if I wanted to listen to a select few.” Lionel said, shutting down any further arguments.

Eyes fell upon the two Analysts in the room as Klauna just continued staring at the map. She tried thinking for a while, but decided it was too troublesome and went with the plan she knew was good enough.

“Let’s just bombard the enemy with spells and wait till they come out of the trenches. With the number of Analysts, Succours and Saboteurs in the army we could keep up the bombardment for days. We have seen that the tactic worked yesterday. Although I don’t think the enemy will rush into our encampment like yesterday, we are bound to get some sort of reaction.” Klauna said to everyone.

Klauna knew that the enemy had no way to counter bombard them. If everything goes to plan, it would be a one-sided battle with little to no casualties on their side. Or course, this gained some ire from the surrounding demons. Such a way of fighting was seen as dishonourable and they will not get the satisfaction of battle that they want.

“Such a vile and scummy tactic. Do you wish to bring our pride down the drain, you lowly Analyst?” One of the demons argued back.

“Indeed. What honour is there to fight while covering behind safety?” The meathead Warrior complaint.

Everyone except a few of the captains argued back. One of those included was Kazakiel. As a Cunning, this was a sound tactic and right up his alley so he had no complaints.

Seeing no response from Klauna who merely showed that she doesn’t care, everyone turned their sharp words onto Harbin. Just as Klauna expected, they would target Harbin who was more inexperienced in these kinds of meetings.

Harbin was relatively calm all things considered. She had been warned first hand and was keeping a still face— undeterred from the insults. At least up until when one demon said something that seemed to get a reaction from her.

“I pity you, grimoire holder. How could you even follow such a prideless drunkard,” the skimpish Succour said.

Harbin could be seen visibly twitching at her words. Harbin was the type who could not stand people who talk bad about the one person whom she respects greatly. The others saw this and started throwing more insults towards Klauna and Harbin could be seen more irritated in response. 

Seeing her subordinate under fire like that, Klauna could hell but let out a sigh. 

Klauna sought to push back against them in order to protect her underling,  “Pride? If your pride can win this battle then, by all means, go ahead and make up your own plan.” Her voice resonated across the room for everyone to hear. 

“What did you say?”

“We’ve been stuck in this ditch for a week or two already. Your pride or whatsoever hadn't helped us one bit. It’s worthless. If the enemy had such a chance to strike us as I mentioned, they would have done so in a heartbeat," Klauna responded.

The anger in the demons was now visible and some even tried to attack Klauna physically. It was then that Lionel slammed the table.

“Enough!” Lionel shouted. Just like the day prior, his strong voice caused the room to go quiet. 

Fearing the wrath of the general, the other demons went quiet. They tried to continue the discussion but the demons could not come to an agreement on which plan to proceed with. It was up to Lionel to pick the plan now.

He thought about it for a while before taking a deep breath. “We will go with…”