Base of Operations

A week had passed and David’s hopes of having a small base inside the former goblin hive hadn’t fully come to fruition.

First, the goblins had nothing but rotten meat and dirty water to sustain them; it was fine for their kind, but not David and his forces. As a result, Mania had to go hunting every night and Abaddon fashioned waterskins from animal hides to transport gallons of fresh water a day from a nearby spring to the cave.

Then, there was the hive itself. It was smaller than they had first anticipated and it was filled with numerous frail, dilapidated buildings and unstable tunnels. The goblins also had no sense of hygiene nor concern for their physical health, so the cave was filled with excrement and the remains of their unfortunate kidnapped victim’s.

Mania had her skeletons work for two days straight to properly clean the hive from top to bottom.

Finally, there were very few minerals or precious ores inside the tunnels for them to mine, meaning that they couldn’t create any new equipment whatsoever. Abaddon had started using the freshly summoned Machai as miners to dig deeper into the mountains but they hadn’t found anything valuable yet.

Over the last week, Abaddon had managed to summon twenty Machai through his portal.

They were large, muscular demons wearing black steel armour and had helmets shaped like deer skulls; they swore their eternal loyalty to David and to do whatever he asked of them to the letter.

To test that, David ordered them to mine for twelve hours without a break which they did. He then asked them to beat up one of their kind until he told them to stop; they did. David even ordered one to take its helmet off and smash its head against a rock six times; it did.

Its scary how loyal they are, David thought.

In addition, Mania had raised one hundred and thirty skeletons for David’s army and work force which was large enough to do all the tasks he needed them to do right now.

However.

It’s not enough.

David had hoped for more.

He’d hoped that he’d have a small army of demons and skeletons before Mímir returned, which would’ve given David the opportunity to take over a nearby castle or fortress.

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts to preserve the corpses of the goblins, a lot of them had been too badly damaged by their attacks to be used as resurrection material, a fact that David made careful note of.

Mania had then conjured another hundred skeletons without corpses but, as David fear, their abilities were severely weaker than their resurrected siblings.

David’s best option moving forward, in his mind, was to expand their current, terrible base and slowly build up their numbers more.

He sighed. I didn’t think this would be easy, but it really does seem like Eris has made this impossible for me to do in a year. One week later and we don’t have anything substantial to show for it. If I can’t establish myself before year’s end, then everything I’ll have done will have been for nothing.

Whilst David stayed in his office planning their next moves, Abaddon and Mania worked through the day to expand their army and base.

Then, someone knocked at his door.

David summoned his armour. “Enter.”

Mímir and one of his Ravens entered and knelt before David’s desk.

“Your majesty, I have returned.”

“Excellent. How did your task go?”

Mímir stood up and took out a pure white scroll from his jacket pocket, placing it gently on David’s desk.

“Whilst I’d like to say I was entirely successful, I was unable to fulfil your desires to the level you sought. I apologise for my lacking abilities.”

“It’s fine. As long as what you’ve brought to me is valuable, this offense can be ignored.”

After all, I never expected you to do everything I asked you to.

“Thank you for your kindness, your majesty. This map.” He broke the seal on the scroll and unrolled it. “Is a rough one that I was able to draw up of the surrounding thirty miles. However, I was unable to create a complete report on the terrain. That said, I was able to learn of a few areas of importance in the immediate area around us.”

David beckoned Mímir to continue.

“First, the mountain range that we are currently in appears to spread many miles to the north, east and west of us. While this is a rough estimate, I believe that it could be more than a hundred miles long in some directions. To test this theory, I sent my Raven to the highest peak of one of these mountains and he confirmed that they stretched even further than what’s on this map.

“Second, within these thirty miles, there is but a single castle and a handful of villages spread across the grassy plains. In total, I found eight villages, all of which were agricultural based. If we took control of these villages, we would be able to sort out any food issues we might have for the foreseeable future. Further, there was something most peculiar about these villages; there were no guards stationed at any of them.”

“Not even one?”

“Not even one, your majesty. From what I gathered during my observations, the only protectors of these villages are the villagers themselves, and they only had farming tools. At first, I suspected that this part of the country we are in is simply that peaceful; however, after eavesdropping on the villager’s conversations, it seems that the local lord at this castle.” Mímir pointed at the only castle on the map. “Only sends men down to collect taxes and harvests. Other than that, they never depart from the castle.”

David narrowed his eyes. “You’re certain?”

“I am, your majesty. To verify this, I sent my Raven to the lord’s castle for two days to listen into their conversations. Their statements lined up almost identically to the villagers. The only time the villages came up outside of that was whenever the lord spoke of a lack of funds, despite how wealthy his home was.”

“So, they are being neglected then, not because they don’t need their lord’s protection?”

“Your majesty?”

“If they’re being neglected by the lord this much, then it makes it easier for us to operate in this region. Likewise, if we took control of the castle, no one in the surrounding area would find it strange if we kept to ourselves. However.” David looked into Mímir's eyes. “If it’s because this land is just that peaceful, then an attack on anything might be noticed.”

“…I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t thought that far ahead, your majesty.” Mímir lowered his head a little. “However, you have raised some excellent points that I wish to investigate as soon as possible.”

“That depends on what else you have to report.”

“Of course, your majesty. May I continue?” David nodded. “Thank you. Third, I learned some basic information about the country we have found ourselves in. We are in the Holy Empire of Themis and it spreads across roughly a quarter of the continent. As for the specifics to its size or the size of the continent itself, I’m afraid that will require much more time to determine accurately.”

“That will be less of an issue if we acquire maps from a cartographer in a city at some point. Speaking off, did you learn of any cities or towns near us?”

“The closest city to us is Stonefall, roughly twenty miles east of the castle.” Mímir pointed at the castle again. “The closest one after that is about sixty miles south-west from this village here. It’s a city called Elvast that borders a forest and a lake.”

That’s irritating. David scowled. It’s too difficult for us to operate out of this cave for the foreseeable future. The castle seems ideal, even too ideal, for us to use, but it’d be harder to hide ourselves there.

We don’t know enough about the local lord, his family or how to disguise ourselves as them so no one’s the wiser. If he has monthly business in a city or something that we don’t know about, that could be a big problem. If he does and he suddenly stops making that monthly trip, people could start asking questions and come looking for him. The longer the trail of bodies, the easier it’ll be for people to uncover our operations.

David’s right hand clenched tightly into a fist. I can’t let that happen, no matter what. I want to remain undetected for a few months at least, preferably longer, but-

“Your majesty, might I add two more thoughts before I conclude my report?”

“You may.”

“Then, I shall speak quickly. Given that this empire is a religious one, it stands to reason that there might be powerful members of its faith that could pose a threat to us, such as Paladins or Priests. If so, they could pose a threat to our undead forces and potentially myself, depending on their power.”

“You’re undead?”

“Technically, yes.” Mímir reached up and pulled down his scarf, revealing a white, spiked scar running around his neck. “However, I believe that only the highest level of holy attacks or spells would be able to wound me, and barely even at that level.”

How reassuring. Knowing Eris, there might be someone capable of that in this world already, or one of the summoned heroes she brings later on might be.

“What was your other thought?”

“More an observation, your majesty. The local lord’s castle, based on my evaluation, seems to be poorly defended, even with around five hundred or so guards.”

“How so?”

“I observed the guards on duty for two nights three days apart to see how they would react, but they all seemed quite relaxed and lazy when it came to performing their duties. If we were to strike during the night, I believe, with your guidance, that we could take control of the castle easily. That concludes my report.”

David leant back in his chair and folded his arms.

Five hundred human guards, plus the lord and whatever family he has, plus however many servants there are at the castle. That’s a lot of bodies to pile up in a single day, but. He frowned. That’s nothing compared to how many I’ll have to pile up in the end. Best to get used to it as soon as possible.

It wouldn’t be very fitting for a Demon Emperor to be squeamish about killing people, not that I want to. I just…can’t afford not to.

Eris’s threatened to kill me if I didn’t act like a proper Demon Emperor is still a very real danger.

I just hope that this castle isn’t a trap set by Eris.

Even if it is, I don’t have a choice but to spring it. That said.

David stroked his chin and stared down at the map.

The Holy Empire of Themis is no doubt large, probably because Eris wanted to make it as difficult as possible for me to conquer. However, I can also use that to my advantage.

David smiled, the plan forming in his mind.

“Call Abaddon and Mania,” David said to the Raven. “And tell them to gather the Machai.”

“Only the Machai, your majesty?” Mímir asked.

David grinned. “We only need them, after all, so let the skeletons keep working.”

Mímir smiled back. “Understood, your majesty.”