novelraw Chapter 221 : Bad News
Chapter 221 : Bad News
Chapter 221: Bad News
Hales ultimately chose to accept Yam’s employment.
He returned the two thousand citizens of Bayor Territory to Yam, and in return, Yam provided enough rations to feed four thousand people for three months, along with a batch of basic medical supplies. However, these medicines could only treat minor ailments such as colds and diarrhea—there were barely any hemostatics or bandages included, as Yam himself was in short supply.
Yet Yam promised that he would never use Hales’s Vengeful Undead as cannon fodder. If their soldiers were injured in battle, they would receive the same level of medical care as any other soldier under Yam’s command—this was the very reason Hales agreed to the employment. For this, Yam incorporated Hales’s troops into the ranks of the Shelf Mercenary Group,
operating under the name of the Shelf Mercenary Group in combat missions.
Of course, the payment was also funneled through Akar to Anne, who reported it to Monica for formal registration.
After all, these expenses could be later claimed as wartime support by the Red Eagle Territory: they were direct evidence to show the Southern Army Command and even the Tyrella Kingdom itself what kind of support the Red Eagle Territory had provided during the war. Although this political leverage might not yield an immediate and equivalent return, it could certainly be used as a political bargaining chip.
However, what Yam truly valued was the legal formality of this procedure: it acknowledged that those Aust citizens under Hales's command were to enjoy all legal rights and privileges of ordinary Tyrella Kingdom citizens—not to be regarded as slaves or cannon fodder.
Also, Yam would certainly not allow White Mountain Territory to politically foot the bill for Bayor Territory.
The two thousand Bayor civilians were directly integrated into the garrison's combat sequence, classified as reserve troops. The three months’ worth of rations and medicines given to Hales were fully accounted as standard logistical consumption for the garrison and deducted from Viscount Wade Kasein’s quota.
Following this, Yam mobilized these two thousand soldiers, integrating them with the troops he and Akar had brought from White Mountain and Gem Territories. This created a mixed force totaling five thousand troops. Including the nominal Shelf Mercenary Group, Yam’s total force now approached nine thousand.
In terms of Bloodline Users: Hales was a Fourth-Tier, and there were ten Third-Tier users, including Yam, Akar, Aliman, and Lurt. There were over twenty Second-Tier Bloodline Users.
In terms of raw military strength, this already constituted a considerable force.
Yet both Yam and Hales were painfully aware that even this force could not guarantee survival on the main battlefield.
Because the enemies they might face could be Fifth-Tier or even Sixth-Tier. That was not a level they could contend with. War never followed personal will, nor was it a game with rules.
Thus, if their defensive sector were chosen as the breakthrough point by the enemy, the pressure they’d face would be terrifying.
So terrifying that Yam hoped he could remain stationed in Bayor Territory forever.
But he knew—that was just a pleasant fantasy.
From the moment war broke out, from the moment the Tyrella Royal Family issued the war draft, he could no longer stay in the rear.
When the frontlines became strained and manpower began to run low, they would inevitably be sent forward to fight. Especially now that his gathered forces neared ten thousand, with more than thirty Bloodline Users—this was a power that could no longer be ignored.
For reference, Tyrot Kasein and Wade Kasein had each taken five thousand troops to the frontlines. Together, their total force was similar to Yam’s, and in terms of Bloodline Users, Yam had even more.
"No word has come from the front yet, and I have a really bad feeling about it."
Yam voiced his concern in the war room of the Bayor War Fortress.
He had spent several days reorganizing the army with Hales’s help: now Yam commanded two forces. One was a mixed army from the Gem, White Mountain, and Bayor Territories, totaling five thousand men, including fifteen hundred support personnel like craftsmen and serfs. The other was the Shelf Mercenary Group, which in truth consisted of Hales’s Vengeful Undead, numbering thirty-five hundred. These had no specific roles and, under Red Eagle’s official endorsement, were participating in the war against the Aust Empire as a mercenary group.
Aliman Shelf remained the nominal commander of the Shelf Mercenary Group, but in reality, he had no control over the Vengeful Undead.
At present, those gathered in this war room were the top-level commanders of both forces:
Yam, Akar, Aches, Aliman, Sien, Ryan, Hales, Lurt, Apaz, and others.
"Why are you so concerned about news from the front?" Hales asked, puzzled. "Shouldn’t you be glad? You’ve got more time to train your soldiers. That should be great news for you, right?"
"Two weeks before we met you, we received a letter from Tyrot Kasein—the Lord of Eaglehead Territory, current Head of the Kasein Family, and father of Monica Kasein, the Lord of Red Eagle Territory. He said he planned to return to Bayor soon—
and intended to meet you."
"Meet me?" Hales was startled. "You already reported my existence to them?"
"Yes." Yam nodded. "At the time, we didn’t know your situation, nor the status of the war at the frontlines. So when Aliman first discovered you, we immediately sent your information and requested instructions. But we received no response for a long time—until recently."
"Let me guess," Hales said. "The front was under wartime lockdown, so all communications were blocked. Only after the full military lockdown was lifted did they see your report."
"Exactly." Yam nodded.
"A textbook Tyrella military procedure. The good part is it prevents spies from leaking military plans or intel."
Hales shrugged, but his tone was mocking. "But the bad part—back in the Western Region, when I got into trouble at the Great Canyon, my family didn’t even know what had happened."
"They didn’t even know you were captured and replaced." Lurt laughed. "You Tyrella folks are obsessed with doctrinalism."
"I won’t deny that." Hales shrugged again.
Yam sighed and steered the conversation back on track. "So now, it’s been over two weeks since Tyrot last sent word, and he still hasn’t shown up. Not even a new piece of intel."
"I see what you're getting at," Hales nodded. "The front has likely erupted again—intensely so. Otherwise, communication wouldn't be blocked. You fear the Southern Army will issue a direct combat order?"
"Yes." Yam nodded. "According to previous intel, our operational role was rear logistics, since we only had about two thousand troops at the time. Later, Akar arrived with reinforcements from Gem Territory and supply materials from Red River Territory. We also engaged in heavy fighting with the Aust forces in southern Bayor—but our military designation hasn’t been officially ‘updated’ yet."
Hales froze, his expression changing sharply. "You mean you’re still listed as a logistics unit?"
"What does that mean?" Apaz and Lurt looked confused.
They weren’t Tyrella natives—both had only become soldiers after being framed and dumped into the Death Camp, learning as they fought. Their military knowledge was patchy at best.
But seeing Hales’s expression, they knew something serious was wrong.
"In the Tyrella Kingdom’s military hierarchy, ‘logistics’ often means unofficial units that can be sacrificed to plug defensive gaps when necessary," Hales said grimly. "In other words, if the Garris Plains are under heavy assault, the Southern Army Command can bypass your superior lords and issue a forced conscription order to deploy you to the front."
At this, both Lurt and Apaz were stunned.
Apaz asked in disbelief, "We have nearly ten thousand troops now. If we move, there’s no way that goes unnoticed. Would the Tyrella command really be that stupid—to throw us in as cannon fodder?"
"Didn’t you hear what Lurt just said?" Hales replied solemnly. "Doctrinalism! And if the front is in crisis, who has time to examine troop scale? A messenger isn’t a commander—he can’t amend orders."
"I submitted the updated intel a week ago, backed by the Marquis Monica—"
"That might be our only good news," Hales said. "With the Marquis’s endorsement, we’re now officially Red Eagle’s second-tier force, meant to reinforce Tyrot Kasein’s private army. But the problem is—will the Southern Army commander acknowledge it? Or even open that report?"
The war room fell into a heavy silence.
Further discussion became futile in such an atmosphere, so they shifted focus to full war readiness—preparing for the worst.
Three days later, Yam’s worst fear came true.
The Tyrella Southern Army’s supreme commander at the Garris Plains defense sector bypassed both Marquis Monica of Red Eagle and Tyrot Kasein, Yam’s nominal superior, and forcibly conscripted Yam’s "sub-three-thousand logistics army." He ordered them to immediately mobilize with full supplies to the Third Defense Sector at the Ashak-Rorylan frontline to hold off the Aust Empire forces until Aubma’s second wave of troops was ready.
No detailed combat orders. No specific hold duration.
To Hales, who had once fought alongside Tyrella’s Western Army, this was a textbook "line-filler" order.