Spoils of Victory

Chapter 3 - Pact of Dragons

The army could really be split up into a few areas, including a proper and organized airforce, a standing, disciplined, and organized land army, and an overall modernization of their equipment. Their industry could also be split into three areas, the improvement of infrastructure and railroads connecting the country, the expansion of Qin industry overall, as well as a general strengthening of the economy. Lastly the Magecorps, while technically part of the 'Army' category, given my direct experience, it seems that while I'll be supervising and to a degree managing the other areas, the mage modernization is where I'll have a far more direct role.

The main advantage here is that I seemingly am able to pick who I choose to bring with me and who's in charge of what, so long as they receive the proper approval first. This most likely means I can bring Weiss and the 203rd, at least what's really left of it, in order to aid in the mage modernization portion. Uger has proven competent in the railways department, so I'm certain I can use his connections to find some other competent economic experts. Given their response to my proposals on logistical planning early in the war and since, I easily have a significant amount of respect from many in the department, so I don't have to worry about them questioning me as a superior. I know plenty of competent military officers personally, so modernizing their army, weapons technology, and air force shouldn't be too difficult to find people for. Of course the paperwork in handling all of this is going to be a hassle. Frankly I didn't want to do this, at least not now but...

I really do need the help of a competent assistant right now don't I...

April 3rd, 1936; 4:12 PM

Zolka Cafe

Berun, The Empire

I sat down at the table, quickly ordering, though since he didn't actually write anything down, it could be assumed he already knew what I wanted. I have been coming here more often than usual now, especially since Visha was making the coffee. However today it was exactly her that I wanted to see. She's been working here for a few months now I believe, though I never quite kept track of it. Regardless, this whole operation is going to be a headache to do alone, even setting it up is a task in of itself, and I'd like to have someone I know is a competent and loyal subordinate to do the task.

As the coffee was brought out to me, I again asked to see Visha. It wasn't uncommon for me to do so, though I didn't do it daily, not that she even worked daily, though I had gotten a grasp on her schedule and tended to frequent most when she worked. As Visha arrived, I gestured for her to take a seat, though to her I'd imagine she assumed this would be another one of our more casual conversations.

"How are you feeling today, Tanya?" She asked cheerfully, almost making me feel bad for asking her to return to the army to be my assistant, but to be entirely fair I wasn't forcing her.

"I'm fine, Visha, thank you. I wanted to talk to you about something, however. It's best if we talk in private after your shift is done, though. How does 6 PM sound? I'll meet you here and I'll take you to my office so we can talk."

"Oh, alright, yeah that works fine for me! What are we going to be talking about if I can ask here?"

"I probably can't go too into detail, however I suppose you could say it has to do with a deployment of mine. I'll explain the rest later. I apologize for scheduling it so late, I wouldn't want to drag you out of your job more than I already am" or will.

"Of course! That's perfectly fine! Would you like to talk about other things for now? I heard there was a new store opening down the street from here."

As Visha began rambling off about some flower shop opening around the corner, we once again entered another of our casual conversations, though this one was relatively short as I had some paperwork I needed to pre-emptively get done before 6PM.