My Servant System

Chapter 1159: Chapter 1158: Wartime Decisions

 n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"The estimation from what we can see is approximately one and a half thousand normal soldiers with an equal amount of monsters being corralled outside of the walls. There are most definitely numerous Fiends within the city, both because of the obvious controlling of the monsters as well as the power emanating from the city itself."

Anput was now completely awake as she swung herself off of the Jackal and leapt onto the wooden platform with her Mom, joining her in the perch overlooking the city, and more specifically the legion of cultists and monsters that were garrisoning the city.

"That's a hell of a lot of bodies to deal with... is there a plan currently or were you still mulling over it while we were riding over here?"

The towering Sultana turned her head slightly to stare at her daughter, fixing her with a heavy stare from beneath her veil as she expressed her minor irritation at that slight jab before replying "There was little need for a complicated siege plan..."

I listened from below the platform as I got the Jackals tended to, taking this moment to appreciate the wonderful animals and care for them while everyone else switched focus right away, and having all of these giant fluff balls surrounding me was more than pleasant as I listened to their discussion.

"So are we just going to go head on? There's no way we can sneak into that city with that many monsters present, and with an unknown number of Fiends I don't really want to risk that either..."

The Sultana grunted at Jahi's words, nodding her head slowly and pointing towards one of the maps as she answered her in that same raspy voice as always, saying "That was precisely my thoughts, and besides... until I was certain that there were no possible hiding places or escape routes for them, I wasn't going to make a move just yet. A large amount of the military is present here, and we have them cordoned off completely here.

Just in case they have some splinter cells hiding elsewhere I kept the reserves at each city and ordered them to hunker down until further notice. Any and all able bodied citizens were called to arms to defend their homes, so if the Fingers plan on doing something somewhere else in the country, they'll need to have a certain amount of power to do so."

"That's all well and good, but the question remains on how you wanted to approach this. Head on is a vague order, Sultana. Are we simply marching on their gates and relying on our shields and magic to keep us safe until we break the walls, or are we going to level the city before walking over the rubble?"

The soldiers around us that were able to hear all stopped to turn towards their leader, awaiting her decision and holding their breaths as they likely prayed that she wasn't considering the sort of pyrrhic victory that Jahi was suggesting, and a few were even gritting their teeth and glaring at her like they were waiting to get the order to beat the Demoness down for her audacity.

"Preferably not, however I will admit the thought cross my mind more than once at this point. No, the idea I had was a mixture of the two; the gate and entrance of this city is rather uninhabited and free of any buildings, though I have little faith that the people inside are still alive...

What I wanted to do was bombard that gate and pepper the rest of the walls with spells to force them to duck for cover so that we could march into the city uninterrupted. The likelihood of that happening is minuscule at best however, so I'm postponing the siege by a day or two to get the preparations done."

Sensing the question that was about to come from all of us, the Sultana stepped back and pointed towards something behind her, directing our attention to a stack of shields as she said "The preparations are those; mass produced shields made from a relatively common yet strong metal found a few miles south from here, which also happens to have a high compatibility with mana.

Enchanted with a few different things, I want to have a walking wall of mana repellant and relatively impervious shields to push the city with, and the other preparations was just churning out thousands of arrows enchanted with compact explosion spells to deal a lot of damage to people, but not a lot to the city itself."

Before the next barrage of questions could come out, she added "And we have more than enough smiths and enchanters working around the clock to get those things done, so there is no need to stress yourselves. However, help would be appreciated, and the primary thing that I will admit we have a lack of is alchemists."

She stared pointedly at Leone before turning towards me with a quizzical tilt of her head, clearly asking if we would help brew up some potions en masse for the battle to come, and although I knew little of it myself I nodded alongside Leone, knowing that there was little else I could do right this moment to help.

"Well... damn, if I had known we had more time I wouldn't have pushed myself all of last night! Argh... whatever; I'm gonna set up shop again and churn out the rest of our armor. If you need me I'll be right here."

Anput hopped off of the platform and ignored the soldiers around her as she scooped up the bags with the Fiend parts and erected her forge once more, the simple earthen walls rising from the sand as the Jackalkin got to work immediately.

"So swift to act on her own..."

Clicking her tongue and shaking her head, the Sultana turned back to her maps and resumed her deliberations, occasionally looking up to study the city in the distance while everyone else prepared for the battle to come, psyching themselves up for what could be their last day alive... though admittedly few of the soldiers seemed to hold fear in their heart as they moved around with a purpose and with confidence.