Rebirth: From Nothing

Chapter 22: The Village's Ruin

Taking the mountain pass was surprisingly easy. In fact, almost to a concerning extent. The Republic of Amidonia is an international powerhouse of wealth, culture, and military might. To take such a strategically vital position with little resistance feels unnatural. Ozias had an explanation, while we were in the middle of a strategy meeting, he explained.

"The Republic does not have one unified standing army under one commander as we do in our kingdom. Instead, they grant governorship and commanding rights of certain armies in their senate to individual senators who then raise more private armies to defend or expand those territories. Some units do stay in the capital of course, and individual territories often have the same armies defending it for many years on end, but most of the time the threat of the Amidonian military depends entirely on who was elected to lead it."

So, they elect a general in the capital who then inherits an oftentimes subpar fighting force who is expected to raise a stronger one and gain victories? It seems the senate is also responsible for deciding which armies are expected to stay long term, it would seem like they see us as a minor threat.

"Due to our performance in the last war, they likely saw fit to send a decent army to defend the pass the king is invading personally. Then sent a weak sub army to launch a raid against this crossing. However, with two armies destroyed, the senate will respond in full force. They will likely send an experienced and competent commander from the capital as well as multiple elite units."

"Two armies destroyed? We haven't yet heard whether the king has crossed." I respond a little confused.

"The king is strong, strong enough that there is no doubt he passed through safely."

"I see." So, it is a matter of trust in ability.

"Amidonia organizes these individual armies in what they call 'legions.' Each legion is 5000 men strong; this number can be deceptive. The most experienced legions can be 4-5 times stronger than a newly raised one. The commanders can be of entirely different calibers. We faced only 1000 men total in the path, so it is likely they broke off a small number of light troops from a larger army to the west. Now that the king has destroyed that army, we have just a couple months to prepare for their counterattack."

"How strong will that be?" Domitius asked.

"When my army and the king's army unite, we will be 32 thousand men strong. They will likely respond with the same amount of foot soldiers, so likely 6-7 legions. They will likely send some elite units as well."

"Elite units? Like the spider unit?" I ask, this might be my chance.

"Most likely not at first, the republic doesn't like to send their strongest unit away from the capital unless the situation is desperate. The temple guardsmen, the blessed ancients, the magicians order, or just highest-level adventurers could all be candidates. If you want your revenge, we will likely need to destroy another elite unit first in order to prove we are a threat the spider unit must respond to."

I see, in order to attract the attention of the people I need to, then it will require first defeating the weaklings. No, don't forget those people are still skilled fighters. Well, I'll worry about fighting them later.

For now, let's get ready to move camp. We broke apart the supply chain that was going through the mountain pass we claimed. This is because we will be moving to meet with the king's army to the west of here. It will be a two-week march, we only have enough supplies for about half of the march with our non-existent supply lines, and Ozias is not interested in making them go hungry.

We march for the first seven days like normal, there are no villages on the road in this area. The ground simply isn't fertile, and the terrain is rough to walk through. The distance between start and destination is not very far at all, the terrain is likely doubling the time it takes.