Chapter 7: Order's from the Demon Lord

 

Nobody knew why, but Klauna could be seen walking all over the encampment and observing the area within it. It wasn’t that strange of a thing, of course, but the one thing that made this event different than the other times was the fact that Klauna was moving with grace. Her hair was no longer a mess and her expressions had gotten sharper. She had even become more talkative as of late. Oftentimes commenting on things where she wouldn't before.

She was not the wobbling drunkard that everyone knew her as and it made everyone a little weirded out seeing her like this. The Klauna right now looked more of what a captain should actually look like. The only thing that remained the same was her stone-cold stoic face, her sharp tongue and the fact that she would stare at random stuff with a blank face.

This wasn’t the first time that they’ve seen her sober of course, but this was definitely the first time they have seen her in such a state for a prolonged period of time. 

Safe to say, the troops prefer this Klauna instead. Her words and instructions were clearer and had more thought put behind it. Not to say that her instructions never had any thought to it, but it always seemed that she was rushing through the plan. In a way, this Klauna was more patient and more willing to explain her plans further.

And so, sober Klauna was busy walking around the trenches and observing the immediate encampment made by the Ak’hims. It has been several days since the victory at the trenches. The demons took whatever they could from the area and moved in. Learning from the lessons of days prior, they entrenched the position with non-flammable materials and made it so all the important facilities were placed deep and safe enough to not get destroyed by artillery strikes.

The humans have been shown to be rather adaptable and the Ak'hims need to be just as adaptable as well. Whatever tactic they use here, the humans could use it just as well against them. It was only a matter of time. 

The ones to fortify all the trenches? Captain Lina and Captain Laigon alongside their underlings as punishment for defying General Lionel’s orders. Captain Kazakiel and Vice General Cera were the ones to personally oversee their punishment. It would not be fair to those that actually did follow orders, so the few Succours and Saboteurs that were present during the bombardment were spared. 

In order to prepare for further offensive, General Lionel had sent a letter back to command, requesting for more supplies and reinforcement. The Seventh Army took this time to recuperate and recollect themselves after weeks of fighting. During this time, it could be seen that Medica and Harbin had gotten rather close with each other.

It was unusual that Harbin would open up to someone other than an Analyst, but somehow the two aides managed to find something in common. It was also a boon that Medica was one of the few Ak’hims that doesn’t really discriminate against Analysts.  

Klauna observed her subordinate talking with Medica over a cup of tea. They were smiling and were genuinely having a great time. Klauna herself was hidden from their view, but just close enough to be able to hear their conversation.

“So that’s the story of how I got my hands on the Grimoire,” Harbin finished her story about the Grimoire of the Analyst.

Medica gave Harbin a sad smile. “I see... It must have been hard for you Harbin. I’m glad things manage to work out for you,” she replied in a gentle tone.

“Yeah, sometimes things get so hard, I wonder if I should just give up, but then I think about her and I know I can’t! I need to be the example for all Analysts,” Harbin responded.

Medica let out a soft motherly chuckle. “It’s good to have someone you look up to doesn’t it? Ahhhh… I wish I have a Succour that I can properly look up to. Every one of them is just....” Medica let out her own complaint.

“Well… to be honest, It’s not like she’s that perfect of a person either.” Harbin said.

“Much better than the slut don’t you think?” Medica let out a smirk.

“E he he, definitely. How do you stand her Medica? She always spouts out the meanest of things!”

“You’ll get used to things…” Medica let out a sigh.

The two continued talking about many other things. The captains of the Seventh Army and things like Medica’s family and her training to become a medical personnel. Things like how the food in the army could taste better and et cetera.

Klauna didn’t have the patience to sift through all the conversation and simply left the area. She had already confirmed what she needed to confirm. That Harbin’s and Medica’s friendship was genuine. That Medica was not someone she needed to be wary about. Klauna continued to walk all over the encampment in order to observe the wellbeing of her subordinates.

* * * * *

 

A few days passed by when they realised that they were not getting anything back from command. Instead, a messenger came back with a letter and a direct order from the Sixth Demon Lord herself. A grim look could be seen on Lionel's face as he called in the captains for a meeting. Every captain and their aides gathered up and Lionel started to explain the contents to them.

The letter was basically a summary of the current war efforts. That the war wasn’t going as smoothly as expected. The first few months of momentum they had during the beginning of the war had started to die down and that the other fronts were starting to face heavy resistance. And thus, the Seventh Army will not be having reinforcements nor will they have any supplies for the next battle. Command fully expected Lionel to be able to carry the Seventh Army to victory.

Klauna thought that this was absolute bullshit of course. How could they be expected to continue fighting without supplies? Are they to fight with sticks and stones? Without food and with failing equipments?

“That’s all from the letter. We have also received an order from the Demon Lord. Our orders are to move deeper into the enemy territory and claim Fort Kron. This is vital to her plans to stage an assault on the enemy’s capital city,” Lionel continued.

“An order from the Demon Lord herself? How wonderful! This is the time for us to show her my Familia's skills and go up the ranks of nobility!” Captain Lina, the skimpily clad woman let out a haughty laugh.

“Let us depart immediately then. We should strike while the iron is still hot and the enemy has yet to begin to rally their army,” Another demon chimed in at the idea of taking a fort to gain favour from the Demon Lord.

“Indeed— to claim a great fort— there are not many things more honourable than that! Gahaha,” The meathead Warrior yelled out.

Half of the demons were elated to know that there will be a great fight ahead. And that they were one step closer to winning the war. Their morale was unreasonably high. They were drunk of the victory that they’ve gained in the past few months to see how folly this plan really is. The other half of the demons simply nodded and followed the order without question. It was the Demon Lord’s orders. It would be nothing but a shame to their families if they disobeyed a direct order after all.

Everyone soon agreed to the plan and had already begun to instruct their aides to start packing so that they may move to the fort.

Everyone except Klauna of course.

“Is this a joke?” Klauna said. She had a visibly angry expression and was glaring right into Lionel’s eyes.

Harbin and Yuupiecca raised their eyebrows at Klauna’s sudden question. It was rare enough for her to speak in these meetings, but it was another thing to see her this angry in it.

“Are you serious, Narulionel? To assault Fort Kron?” Klauna asked one more time for confirmation.

“...” Lionel only folded his arms and kept quiet.

The other demons quiet down and stared at the Analyst. A little bit curious about why the normally disinterested Analyst would speak up like that. Some were angry about how disrespectful she was being towards the general. Cera, in particular, did not like how Klauna referred to Lionel by his full name.

“We will not receive any provisions and the orders are for us to take down a fort with only a few thousand men? The enemy has been shown to constantly outnumber us— sometimes with a ratio of ten to one. This is suicide and you know it,” Klauna objected to the idea further.

“...” Lionel continued to keep silent.

“We should just belay that order Narulionel. What we should be doing is entrenching ourselves further and wait for the enemy’s counteroffensive. We can take down more humans and find an opportunity to extend the war that way.”

“You really are fond of dishonourable tactics aren’t you, Analyst? Also to disobey the Demon Lord's orders? You really are nothing but a lowly Analyst,” one of the demons said.

"Also, extend the war? Why extend the war when we can end it? That's such a dumb thing to say." Another demon said, letting out a few small laughs.

“I think the captain is just throwing a tantrum because she could not drink her precious liquor,” Another demon snickered.

“Yeah, thanks to her silly plan no doubt,” 

"Suffering from withdrawal much?"

More demons started to belittle Klauna. All of them continued belittling her when Lionel yelled out in a strong voice.

“Enough! All of you! We’ve only won because of her tactics. Insult the skill, not the person. You too, Captain Klauna. I understand your concerns, but orders are orders,” Lionel spoke in a deep voice.

“Yeah, do you hear that Analyst? We are to strike the fort, no complaining now,” Captain Lina let out a mocking laugh.

“Maybe the Analyst is starting to get afraid? As expected of a coward who uses cowardly tactics. She wouldn’t have the pride of the Ak’hims now would she?,” Captain Laigon spoke out. The others only nodded.

*Bam!

Klauna slammed the table with her fist, silencing everyone in the room. Unlike the usual slam which Lionel does to quiet the captains, Klauna’s slam left a dent on the table and almost broke it in half. Chipped wood and a small cloud of dust from the broken table were seen scattered across the room.

“Don't you fools see that we won’t win?!” Klauna yelled, her voice loud enough that even the guards outside of the tent could hear it.

Harbin and Yuupieca were both shocked. They have never seen Klauna objecting to something so vehemently, much less see her yelling out in anger like that. It was very uncharacteristic of her.

The demons only got angrier, having been called a fool by the Analyst that they were mocking. Before they could say another word, Lionel yelled out once again.
“I said enough!” His yell was just as strong as Klauna’s. So loud that the people outside the room could hear him.

The door could be seen opened and the troops of the Seventh Army were gathering outside of the room to see what was happening.

“I do not want to go there as much as you do Klaunaliorilatica. Regardless, move we will as it is still an order from the Sixth Demon Lord,” Lionel stared right into Klauna’s eyes. 

Klauna clicked her tongue. “Do as you please. Their deaths are on your hands, Narulionel,” She spoke as she left the meeting room.

Harbin was momentarily stunned. She looked around the room only to see the looks of confusion out of everyone. The last thing she saw in the room was General Lionel looking downwards in shame. Harbin then calmed herself down and followed after Klauna. Yuupiecca left the room as well.

 

* * * * *

 

The Humans and the Ak’hims have hated each other for as long as the Ak’hims existed. An incident that led to revenge that soon turned into generations and generations of hate for each other. Both sides retaliated mercilessly with escalations after escalations until finally culminating in another full-blown war between the two races.

Either side just wanting to kill each other for no other reason than to exact revenge on each other. No matter how hard the leaders of both sides try to justify it, no matter how much they disguise it with political talks and nonsense, it really is just a pointless war.

Klauna herself didn’t know what the war was really about, and honestly speaking, she doesn’t really care. There was nothing she could do to stop it. The only thing she could do was to keep the people under her command safe. So far she has succeeded, but Lionel wishing to move forward deeper into human territory made it a lot harder to do.

“Captain Klauna!” Harbin yelled from behind as she tried to catch up to Klauna.

Klauna didn’t respond and only walked forward. She didn’t know where she was going but she needed to be away from the place. Harbin didn’t say anything and only followed her from behind.

They walked and walked for what feels like hours when suddenly Klauna stopped. “Harbin.” She called out.

“...yes?”

“I need a favour from you.”

“...” Harbin got into a rigid stance, waiting for her orders.

“I need you to gather every Analyst. They need to know about this.”

“Roger!” Harbin saluted before running off to gather all the Analysts.

Klauna took a deep breath and stared off into the distance— into a setting sun. She needed to think of a way to keep her subordinates alive. 

‘They don’t deserve to die a meaningless death.’ Klauna thought to herself.