The Human From a Dungeon 36 (Patreon)

Chapter 36

Master General Kirain Yith

Adventurer Level: N/A

Half-Breed Drow - Balushenian

What a wonderful night. I let out a happy sigh as I allowed the ambience wash over me, enjoying the smell of fires and blood, the sounds of screaming in the distance, and the sight of drow tossing mangled corpses into the mass grave at the bottom of the hill. It is a rare treat to be rewarded so handsomely for such a meager task.

Well, meager for me, at least. The orcs residing here had not wanted to let this village fall under our control, and had put up quite a fight. They'd had some forewarning as to our intentions, but we had managed to mask our movements and surprise them. Even so, we took losses. I watched General Smarn jog up the hill in my direction.

"Reporting, sir," he said, slightly out of breath.

I'll have to ensure my officers participate in morning calisthenics with the soldiers. Not only will this improve their constitution, but it will improve the morale of the soldiers as well, which will ensure the soldiers will follow the more difficult orders when they're finally given.

"Get on with it, Smarn," I replied.

"Yes, sir," he snapped to attention. "Aultris squads two and four have made contact with the enemy. Both skirmishes ended in our victory. We've taken four casualties and two deaths as a result of the action."

"And what of the enemy?"

"Sixteen confirmed kills and four captures. The rest fled the field in a suspicious manner. The squads did not pursue due to suspicions of an ambush. Their commanders will be punished at the Master General's pleasure."

I couldn't help but smirk at the results of our fighting. The orcs were tough, disciplined, and crafty enemies, but they couldn't stand up to the formations I'd fashioned. Shield walls and spears are well outside the wheelhouse of a standard orc commander, let alone a hastily established village militia. Unfortunately this success was likely to change somewhat when we begin to encounter regulars.

The orcs we've been fighting aren't part of a greater military effort. For the most part, they're simply guards and farmers who've taken up weapons to try to drive us off. There's the occasional uppity adventurer, but even they can't fight an entire phalanx. According to the literature that I'd gleaned the idea from, such maneuvers are vulnerable only to artillery, which is difficult to position during a skirmish. Unless you lead your enemy into a prearranged position, of course.

"There is no need for punishment. They were likely correct in assuming it was a trap, and we have no reason to pursue the enemy when they flee at this point in the campaign. This is a land grab, not an extermination," I said as I casually pushed my hair from my eyes.

"But..." General Smarn glanced at the freshly ruined village.

"This was not an extermination either, General. We simply needed a more permanent base of operations and a source of labor," I explained. "This village has food and water and will serve as a nexus between our forces and our supply lines for the rest of our campaign. Obviously, we can't have the populace trying to prevent the village's transformation into our nexus, which is why we killed those who wouldn't surrender or couldn't work. Rebels and spies would undermine our efforts."

The general looked at me with doubt apparent in his expression. There are few things more offensive than having a dolt doubt you. Would that I could carve that expression from his face. Feeling my fury flare, and knowing that this was not an appropriate time to free it, I took a deep breath with my mouth and exhaled it through my nose.

"There were plenty of survivors, and all of the survivors that surrendered have been relegated to our labor force," I said with exasperation. "Speaking of which, ensure that those that are captured during skirmishes are treated for any injuries they have. Once their treatment is complete, make sure they join the labor force. That will be all."

"Yes, sir," Smarn said before trotting off to carry out my orders.

One may call it a mixed blessing that King Lofin requires foolishness to be an inherent trait among his military leaders. On the one hand, it requires much more hand-holding to get anything done. To make sure things are done correctly, you must give explicit and exact instructions every time you give orders. On the other hand, not a single one of them has questioned the need for a labor force. Especially one made entirely of orcs.

I sighed as I entered my newest domicile. I had meticulously crafted several well thought out answers to their potential questions, and had even gone so far as to plan assassinations if those answers hadn't been accepted. A pointless effort, as it turned out. I truly am surrounded by incompetent fools.

Well, perhaps not. The officers commanding the squads would have to have their wits about them to avoid the orcish traps as they had. For a moment I considered promoting them, but dismissed this thought almost immediately. They are far enough down the chain of command to be afraid of questioning orders. If I promote them enough, this will change and I will have to be rid of them. No, they are far more useful where they are.

I was lost in these thoughts when something out of place caught my notice. I stood still and examined the room around me. My sister's cage was nestled in the corner, undisturbed. The hatch to our freshly dug storeroom lay undisturbed in the other corner, still closed and latched. The wooden walls were still covered in the various animal heads, herbal wreaths, and the other eccentricities that the previous denizen had placed there. A gentle breeze was moving the blackened curtains that I'd ordered hanged. The breeze was coming from a window that had previously been closed.

Having found the disturbance that wrestled me from my thoughts, I took a step toward the window.

"Good evening, Master General," an obviously fanged mouth said behind me.

I briefly froze, but fought my fear.

"Hello, Alurgas," I said, turning to the vampire. "How fare you this evening?"

Alurgas Tuvino, the vampire that told me of my father's death, had been a count when the vampires had ruled the Night Kingdom. Before that, he had been a muscular but otherwise unimpressive specimen of elf. Were it not for his obviously elven features, one could easily mistake him for a tall dwarf. The window that he had entered through allowed for enough of a breeze to stir his cosmetically straightened light brown hair as his green eyes glowered at me with barely disguised contempt.

"I would be faring far better had I not been assigned to the whimsy of a half-breed," Alurgas practically snarled. "What do you need of me, whelp?"

Anger. Rage, even. It shot through me like a white hot iron in my skull. My politeness had been met with hostility. How dare this disrespectful reprobate address me in this manner?!

I fought the urge to attack the vampire. I'd been feeding regularly, but it would be a close fight and it would likely spill out into the camp. My upper echelon hadn't thought to ask any questions until now, but even they aren't dumb enough to have no questions about a vampire attack this far south. Not to mention the fact that I would definitely have to bare my fangs.

It would also be difficult to have another vampire assigned to this task, especially once I explained what happened to Alurgas. I would have to come up with a reasonable cause for my attack on him, and losing my temper would not be considered reasonable. I will resist his baiting, for now.

"Yes, I do have need of you. At this moment there are captured orcs digging out a chamber beneath this lodge," I calmly explained. "I need you to find two of them that would be sympathetic to our cause and turn them. My officers have chosen a few to be leaders of this labor detail, so you should start with them. They are the ones with clothing. Use your hypnosis to determine if they will be loyal. If so, turn them. If not, make them forget the encounter."

"What's the point of only turning two of them?" he asked haughtily.

Another downside to having subordinates who are somewhat competent is that they waste time by demanding explanations.

"These orcs are part of a forced labor group, and their work is not finished. If you turn all of them, we will not have a catacomb to build a new vampire army. Vampires make poor slaves, after all."

He recognized my last sentence as the insult it was intended to be and his eyes flashed red in response, but he didn't do anything other than stare. Instead of joining him in a stare-down, I took my seat and gestured at a freshly installed hatch. As far as my officers are aware, the orcs are digging a storeroom for our supplies and loot. They didn't ask why I needed a personal entrance to what would become our cache, and so I hadn't offered an excuse.

The red glow in Alurgas' eyes faded, and he sucked his teeth at me. Then he entered the hatch to go on about his task. I chuckled at my minor victory over the pompous asshole. He would do as he was told, and the plan would move forward. He might skip over the obvious choices for conversion, but I'd planned for that as well. If he didn't choose the orcs that were already in charge of the labor force, those orcs would die and the vampires would take their place.

The storeroom is also to serve as housing for any slaves that we capture. A competent commander would immediately be alarmed at putting all of our eggs in one basket like this, but no such commander was in my army. Once the storeroom is large enough and we have enough slaves, it will suffer an intentional 'accidental collapse' of its two primary entrances.

This will ensure that everyone in the army believes the slaves to be dead. The two vampires will then convert the rest of the slaves, creating a nice little army of vampires. This army will then finish digging the third entrance to the storeroom, and we will then take our leave of this area and meet with the rest of the vampiric forces to lay waste to Cuvellia, the capital of the Night Kingdom. King Lofin will die, and the rest of the drow forces will be trapped between the enraged orcs and bloodthirsty vampires.

Even with the tactics that I have trained them on, they'll be eradicated. If I am lucky, they will do enough damage to the vampiric hordes to make it easier for me to destroy them. Trap the drow forces between the vampires and the orcs, then trap the vampires between the orcs and my loyalists. Or I could bide my time and play politics among the vampires, waiting for a better chance to strike. That would be a far more dangerous option, though.

No, there's no reason to delay. The campaign to destroy the remaining drow should take a few months. I'll seize my prize for killing King Lofin, and with magical intervention I'll have a small army of brood by the time the drow warriors are dead. That will supplement the drow forces that are loyal to me and awaiting my call, and we will move to exterminate the vampires.

I rested my elbows on my knees and cradled my hands as I studied the map in front of me. Directly to our North was the Night Kingdom. Our foothold doesn't extend that far into Blurpus, one of the five chiefdoms of the Unified Chiefdoms that we are aware of. There are more to the south, but they are of little concern to King Lofin, and as such aren't on any of my maps.

Blurpus, Yirna, Havros, Migrath, and Kirkena, the capital. These are the chiefdoms that Lofin wants conquered every once in a while. Each chiefdom has their own military forces and a Great Chief to lead them. In Kirkena, the Great Chief is called High Chief, and he rules over the other chiefs.

Blurpus and Yirna share a border with the Night Kingdom, and they take turns being invaded. The only reason we weren't met with regulars at the border is because it was supposed to be Yirna's turn this time. I chuckled softly. If King Lofin demands an explanation, I will simply say that I was confused and invaded the wrong chiefdom by mistake. I doubt he's paying much attention, though.

The hatch in the corner opened and Alurgas exited the storeroom. He let the hatch fall noisily and kicked the latch closed. Then he turned and affixed me with a glare.

"It's done," he said.

"Good. That's all I needed," I said with a condescending smile. "You may go."

I was treated to another shift from green to red eyes as the vampire debated whether or not to attack me. If he did, I wouldn't have to worry about the other vampires making a fuss if I killed him. I'd still have to come up with an explanation for my soldiers, but I'm willing to live with that. I tensed in anticipation.

Disappointingly, the creature snarled and morphed into a Kvat, and attempted to exit through the still open window. I chuckled as he struggled with the heavy black curtain until he finally managed to complete his exit. I stood and walked over to the window, closing it.

Another part of the plan completed.