Chapter 32: Planning for the Next Move 

 

 

“How many people are there in Prashyufa?” Klauna asked.

“What do you mean?” Harbin asked back, not understanding the meaning of her sudden question.

A few days had passed since the event at the triage tent. Cera has now been completely discharged. Noticing that most of the Seventh Army that were injured have been discharged as well, she decided to call for everyone for a briefing. This included Yuupiecca and Lina who Klauna deemed necessary to the discussion. The meeting was to be held in the medical tent. Medica refused to let Yuupiecca get outside of the bed, so Klauna decided that if he cannot come to the meeting room, the meeting would just have to go to him. Medica was visibly distressed at her announcement but had no choice but to accept Klauna’s twisted logic. 

Harbin noticed that Klauna was running late and had to pick Klauna up from her private tent. The question was asked as the two walked their way to the tent.

“What is the number of every person living within these walls?”

“...I don’t know…” Harbin replied. How could she have known? She’s never been to Prasyufa before.

“I see. I’m sorry, that must have been a weird question to ask.”

“It’s not weird per se, just that it’s weird to ask me.” Harbin can’t help but think the question should be directed towards Cera who was more knowledgeable about these things.

“Yeah… I didn’t really think about it.”

“I wasn’t aware you ever think about stuff, Lord Klauna.”

“That’s not true. There are some things that I have to think about. I think about those things very seriously, like how to get the best result with less effort mentally,” Klauna answered Harbin.

Harbin rolled her eyes. “...I have nothing to say to that, Lord Klauna.”

The two kept walking as their conversation ended. Harbin clutching her grimoire as she followed behind the person she respects. Harbin watched over her movement and tried to copy her footsteps. Left, right, left, right. She adjusted her movements to follow the same pattern. Their legs now moving in sync with each other. Left, right, left, right.

Letting out a small smile, she then looked towards her back. It was wide and strong as the first day she met her. Actually, she felt that her back looked even bigger now. Back then she was only the person who saved her off the streets. Now, she’s the general and pride of many Analysts. It only brings sadness to Harbin to see her moping around like she didn’t care. There were so many things that Klauna could achieve but chose not to. Every time she starts to succeed and move forward, something bad will happen and she will start to get depressed all over again. 

Like with the deaths of the Seventh Army. She took it to heart, often repeating how everyone that died there was her fault. How could it be her fault? She ordered them, but they were never forced to follow it. Time and time again she had said that they could leave if they wanted to. It was their choice to follow her into the battlefield. And yet she blames herself for it. 

Harbin could see the pained expression on Klauna's face as she moved around. The pain wasn’t recent either, it was always on her face even back when Harbin first met her. At that time, Harbin thought she just simply had a cool distant look. Now she understood that there was more to it than meets the eyes. It’s the look of someone who had given up. Harbin didn’t understand why or what she’s given up on, but she hoped to find out one day.

Until the time comes, Harbin wished to remain by her side and support her the best she could. Another thing that Harbin realised was how much she depended on Klauna. Klauna in her mind was always the strong and undefeatable elder sister of hers. The thought of Kaluna dying never crossed her mind. However, during the previous battle, when the very real thought of losing Klauna happened, her mind turned blank. She couldn’t think properly, her hands were shaking and her heartbeat had an irregular pattern. Her body was not following her instructions properly.

‘I mean she’s still unbeatable, the humans got lucky that’s all.’ She thought to herself.

“Hey, Harbin,” Klauna called after the uncomfortable silence.

“Ye-yes?”

“I want to say sorry.” 

“Huh? For what?”

“...nothing,” Klauna kept moving without looking at Harbin. 

They were near the Medical tent now. Klauna just waved at the Succours nearby and they led Klauna in, probably towards the meeting room. A confused look appeared on Harbin’s face as she walked into the tent as well, putting Klauna’s apologies to the back of her mind.

The Succours led them further into the tent and into a corner. Two beds were placed there and the other officers could be seen sitting down and talking with each other. On the top of one of the two beds was Yuupiecca who was slowly drinking herbal tea on the bed as he listened in. On the other bed was Lina just hiding in sheets of bedrolls, her body facing away from the others. Klauna and Harbin walked in and the whole place went silent.

“Is everyone here?” Klauna asked.

“Every officer is here and accounted for,” the Watchtower Warrior replied.

“What is this about? General Klauna?” Blackmask asked. “Why gather us all today?”

“Before I tell you all. I wish to know how many people are in Prashyufa. Every single person. Ak’hims, Lamias, Fishes, Minotaurs. Everyone.” 

Harbin raised her eyebrows. It’s the question again. She then asked herself why Klauna wanted to know so badly, the population of Prashyufa.

“That’s quite a specific question to ask… Last I checked, Prashyufa has a total of eighty thousand citizens. Including the armies that are in this place right now, I would put that number closer to a hundred thousand.” Kazakiel replied.  “Why do you ask?”

Klauna who heard the information then crossed her arms and closed her eyes. It was a rare event where she bothered taking the time to think about something. She took a full minute before opening her eyes again. “There is a chance that half of that number is going to die,” she replied.

Everyone’s eyes flew wide open at that statement. Even Lina had a look of shock when she heard the words come from Klauna’s mouth.

“Eh? Why?!” Harbin was the first to ask.

“The Alliance will be attacking Prashyufa soon and I have no reason to believe that it will not fall.”

“But why? Didn’t you say that the humans would see how much they’ve lost and end the war in a stalemate?” 

“I never said that it will definitely happen. That was just wishful thinking on my end. I assumed we didn’t kill enough nor made a big enough impact. In the first place, they weren’t committing the full brunt of their forces in that plain. There were too few there.”

Medica let out a shocked response at the statement. “Too few? There were more humans gathered there than I’ve ever seen in my life.” She was the one who had a bird’s eye view of the battlefield; she would know how many she saw.

“And there are many more, doing something that we don’t know about. That’s why I gathered you all here. I want to plan our next move.” Klauna said.

“No way… I really thought the war would end…” Harbin’s shoulders slumped down.

“I’m sorry. I too, wished that things would end with that,” Klauna replied.

The room went silent and everyone had a serious look on them. Everyone was digesting the information given to them. It’s a tall order to believe that the Alliance would assault Prashyufa— even harder for them to believe that Prashyufa would actually fall. Nevertheless, they didn’t argue back. They know by now that Klauna doesn’t joke around with these kinds of things. If she says that the citadel will fall, they best be prepared cause it’s going to fall.

“...What do we do then? Are we going to defend Prashyufa?” Yuupiecca asked.

“No. Nothing will change even if we interfere. Not as long as Command and that Trash leads them. We need more numbers and we simply do not have them.”

“Wait” Kazakiel motioned his palm towards the group. “Let’s just say I give the benefit of the doubt and believe your words that the humans will attack us. How do you know we will lose? No matter how bad our armies are, surely they can defend the most heavily guarded walls in the continent?”

“It’s exactly because they don’t think of themselves as bad that we are going to lose, Kazakiel. I’m sure you are well aware of our great tactic at charging into the enemy rather than wait for them to come to us? I don’t see what would make this any different. The Alliance will lay siege to us and they will just charge out there like morons and we will lose. Waiting is a trait that this whole Kingdom lacks. They only want results,” Klauna replied.

Kazakiel could be seen visibly frustrated. There was no way anybody can be that stupid. He opened his mouth to argue back before closing it back when he realised that Klauna was right. The whole battle at the Plains of Fate was because the demons couldn’t bother to stay still in the citadel in the first place. It was even evident in the past as well. He had even once agreed to a similar plan before. Such as what happened at Fort Kron.

After seeing that Kazakiel had nothing else to say, Klauna said to the others. “I suggest we just pack up and leave the citadel.”

“And just leave tens of thousands of people to die? Blasphemy! We are soldiers! Our duty is to protect the people!” One of the captains opposed her idea.

“I never said anything about leaving them to die. We will evacuate as many as we can.”

“But you said that half of the people living in Prasyufa are going to die?”

“That’s as far as our authority goes after all. Hell, even half is a very optimistic goal at this point.”

“That’s…” the officer kept quiet after he realised the fact.

When it all boils down to it, there is nothing they could do to force these people to leave their homes. The Demon Lord was still alive and Command will never believe that Prashyufa will fall. They will never be able to order the citizens to leave their homes. The best they could do was ask them to leave, but they couldn’t order a large scale evacuation.

“There is that. I want all of you to gather as many supplies as possible and begin preparations to move to the next city. And Kazakiel I want you to join forces with Balestra and send scouts to the north and south of Prashyufa, I believe that the Alliance may be planning a—” Klauna 

“Wait, General Klauna,” Cera interrupted Klauna’s words.

“Hmm..?”

“If it’s about the evacuation… could we not get the other generals to assist us? If enough generals came to our assist, we may even be able to defend Prashyufa,” Cera proposed her idea.

“Why bother? They are just going to ignore me and end up following that Trash.” Klauna responded with a cynical tone. 

She’s been in these kinds of meetings many times before. Her words will be deemed worthless just because she’s an Analyst or something.  Just because the others have their pride stuck right up their asses that they can’t see the facts. Klauna has no faith in them.

Cera gave a determined look at Klauna. “I disagree, we saved their lives at the Plains of Fate. They owe their lives to us. Besides, I think some of the generals weren’t keen on following the Demon Lord’s orders. I think we may have a chance at persuading them. If nothing else let me talk to Lord Leida. She’s a reasonable person, I’m sure she could help us.”

“Lord Leida of the First Army? That Lord Leida?” Harbin asked.

“Yes,” Cera replied.

Klauna crossed her arms again and took a moment to think about things. The others just stared at each other waiting for her big decision.

“I think you are mistaken with one thing Cera. There is no point in holding and defending Prashyufa,” She said to her.

“...” Cera didn’t respond and was a little bit frustrated at having her idea shot down.

“But, I admit, there is some merit to persuading the other armies. It’s worth a try at least. We have nothing to lose. Call in the general’s meeting. We will see what we can do on that front.”

Cera couldn’t believe her ears for a second. Her lips then curved upwards as she gave a salute. “I’ll get on it immediately.”

Klauna nodded at her before turning her eyes to Kazakiel. “Kazakiel, as spoken, I need your scouts north and south. There is something I need to confirm.”

The meeting continued as the officers discussed various things. Lina just listened to closely as she pulled the blankets closer to her body.