Under the golden rays of dawning sunshine signaling the arrival of a new day.
I, Libertas Victor von Vinda, am sitting on a small foldable field chair at the edge of my temporary military camp, staring anxiously at the city of 'Vertenville' through my binoculars.
My mind is filled to the brim with anxiety and worry about the lives of those sent off to fight in the city, for every battle report they send to me using the Morse code transmitter mentions many things I can't fully grasp.
"Sir, you've been here the entire night!?" John asked, his face showing clear concern for me.
"Yes, how could I sleep knowing that my soldiers are fighting off a literal horde of monsters?" I responded to him with a tired side-eye.
"It's bad for your health, sire. If our soldiers see you looking like a sleep-deprived ghoul, their morale would sink... anyway, please take this, sire!" he continued as he passed me a crystal-clear bottle of vodka, "Lady Arina told me to give this to you. She's also crying a river... my lord, did you break up with her or something?" he asked, his face still full of concerns, knowing full well that troops provided by her make up a large chunk of our 'Grand Army', and without her we'll surely lose those troops.
"We're not really lovers yet, and also, this is a hundred percent her fault," I said as I pushed the vodka bottle away, "Go back to her and tell her that instead of sending me a drink, I'd be happier knowing she takes her job and commands her troops more seriously." I continued.
"So... I'll have to be a wingman for you two?" he asked with a grin.
"No, I mean—"
I didn't even finish my response before he quickly dashed away toward the place where Arina's pavilion was located.
I sighed in dissatisfaction as my hands grabbed my binoculars and rested them upon my eyes once more.
At that moment, someone else called out to me.
"Lord Victor, my lady wants to meet you in her tent!" Serafino, the man now acting as liaison between me and Valeria, shouted as he approached me.
"Understood! Tell her to wait at least five minutes, I'll wash my face first." I said as I slowly rose from my chair and stretched my body.
"You should go right now, it's an order!" he complained rudely.
"And I order you to tell her to wait!" I responded, as I walked back to my tent to refresh my mind with a bucket of cold, refreshing water.
"Tch!" he exclaimed from behind me, perhaps even cursing me in his mind.
Normally, I wouldn't mind something like this, but this is just too much. I'll report his behavior to Valeria later.
------
Under the yellow-black roof of Valeria's personal pavilion tent, I entered through the entrance, my eyes glancing around the interior as my mind absorbed the details.
The inside is a spacious single-room area with luxurious yet practical furniture neatly arranged into zones to conserve space and quicken the pack-up process.
A working zone with a wide table, a throne-like chair, scroll racks, and cabinets full of ledgers. A resting zone with a comfy yet small bed relative to her body, a small dining table, and a small circular table with a plate of pasta placed alongside a stack of novella books. And lastly, a bathing area hidden behind a finely decorated wooden partition screen.
In the working zone, Valeria sat in her chair, deep in thought while calculating numbers in the ledger using a finely crafted abacus on her work table. Behind her, Serafino, in his full handyman mode, ferried scrolls, maps, and ink to her in perfect rhythm, his eyes fixated on her hand gestures that sent him command after command.
"I'm here, Lady Valeria. You wanted to see me?" I asked with a smile as I walked toward her.
Valeria's face snapped upward after hearing my voice. Her eyes were heavy with the tiredness of a sleepless night spent organizing my army's logistical details, yet her voice still exuded confidence and energy. "Oh! Please sit down, my friend! I just want to discuss something with you!" she said with a smile from her half-covered face, while her hand gestured for her helper to hand me a glass of red wine.
I refused the wine passed to me by Serafino before sitting down on a humble small chair in front of her. "I can't drink while still on the battlefield, what do you want to discuss?" I got straight to the point.
"I calculated the food we used in just a single march," she spoke, flicking through her ledger as if to check the details one last time, "I found out that we have enough food for the soldiers for at least four months. If the war drags on into winter, we're going to be in deep trouble!" she continued.
"Wouldn't my canned food be enough?" I asked. My own calculations suggested we should have enough food for a whole year if my cannery was running at full capacity.
"The problem doesn't lie in production but transportation. In the camp, we have a fixed storage capacity for preserved food to quicken our packing up sequence, and we haven't foraged much in order to boost our marching tempo, we rely on a ton of wagons and carts to further increase the speed at which we can move and deploy troops." she explained.
"And...?" I asked in serious tone, knowing full well that my steam locomotive project doesn't bearing any useful result yet, just failure after failure.
"With that much focus on speed, I couldn't organize an efficient food supply line to feed our army fast enough. If I increase the number of wagons bringing in more food from different cities, it decreases our ability to ferry in arms, munitions from 'Vindia', and reinforcements from 'Ursunia', as they come from entirely different road and river routes. And that's not even considering bandit and monster raids yet." she said with a tired voice, her eyes fixated on me as if wanting to ask for something.
"Okay, I understand." I nodded.
"And so... I want to ask for permission to confiscate some pack animals and vehicles from the people of 'Vertenville' as well as conscript some of them into transportation roles. This will add more logistical capacity to our army, and fix the supply problem!" she said with a proud smile.
"That's just looting..." I replied, narrowing my eyes into a piercing glare.
"Come on, my friend, we're at war! I just don't want our men to starve if the war drags on longer than expected!" she said, narrowing her eyes and glaring back at me with a worrisome grin.
I sighed in response, "Fine... fine, but be humane about it, okay? I might have to rule these cities afterward, and I don't want people to hate me too much." I relented.
Her grin widened into a beautiful, joyous smile as she bowed slightly to thank me, her ivory half-mask glinted under the candle light inside the tent.
"And by the way, how should we deal with the forest bandits and goblin raiders plaguing our supply lines? Any plan?" she asked once more, now awaiting my answer.
"Just have mercenaries deal with it." I answered. My mind didn't want to have my troops spread too thin.
"Elena's men?" she asked.
"Nope, they're my army's cavalry and reserve. Could you find someone else?"
"Hmppp...
She fell into deep thought for a moment before answering with such an unorthodox method that it made my mouth fall wide open in bewilderment.