Chapter 102 - Final Preparations (Patreon)

Chapter 102

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

City of Rebirth

"So, how are our Republic guests behaving?" Asked Allya as she walked into the council room.

"Surprisingly well, all things considered milady." Said Anders as he gazed at the maps which now almost permanently covered the council table in some way or another, before looking up to his liege and smiling. "What about the dungeon's demonstration? I heard our ally had some impressive contributions to our mutual defense."

"That, my dear commander, is a considerable understatement. I'd rather it be kept quiet, but our resident dungeon core has been hard at work." And if her suspicions were correct, hard at work not only to further her own defence but something else as well, which was something Allya rather not dwell upon with even her advisors just yet.

"How hard?"

"Let's put it this way: however hard you think, you're probably underestimating it. She deployed -and more or less sacrificed- during the demonstration, oh, thirty cannons, six howitzers, three battalions of musket equipped golems, that kind of thing."

Anders' mouth opened…and closed.

"Milady, would it be possible to, ah, acquire some of that hardware?"

Allya's gaze sharpened as she looked at her head of security and effective minister for defense at this point. The subtext was clear that if they were 'acquiring' something from the dungeon, they'd have to provide something in return…and do exactly what the adventurers guild was terrified of.

"I don't think so commander, and I intend to avoid raising the subject." Even if Crystal accepted to just give them away as a gesture of good faith, the adventurers guild would never believe it. And she couldn't afford to antagonize the people whose taxes funded her entire town, top to bottom. Besides, she still owed Starvak a favor, and she'd rather not piss him off until he'd called it in at the very least. "Besides, they will deploy at our side. Push comes to shove I'm fairly sure that our resident dungeon won't object to us taking weapons from fallen golems to augment our capabilities and keep fighting."

Her look at Anders carried more than she was willing to say, and the commander slowly nodded. The subtext was clear that for that to happen, they'd also have to let the dungeon core claim salvage from the battlefield, or at least turn a blind eye to any piece of tech that 'mysteriously vanished' in the chaos of battle. Allya was privately sure the dungeon would pull it off regardless, but anything that made the dungeon stronger helped her, and she might as well profit from it, as she was certain the dungeon core was smart enough to recognize the bargain when the sapient crystal saw it. Fuck, she was fairly sure said dungeon core was smarter than her to begin with!

"Of course milady."

"Now, on to other topics. I'm left to understand that with the labyrinth opening and the land caravan we finally have some proper, high level adventurer gear on sale?"

"And adventurers with the money to buy it, yes milady." Anders shrugged as Allya gave him a curious gaze. "The low level adventurers don't worry me anymore milady, but the primary internal security threat we have right now is some of the high ranks getting rowdy…from their own volition or someone prodding them."

The baroness nodded. That was one of her worries as well.

"Any news on that from Trira?"

"A few reports. Preliminary, of course, but there are some currents I don't like. That's why I'm keeping an eye on the expensive, high power shops."

"That's good. Well, in any case I was thinking of doing some shopping there."

Anders' eyebrows rose.

"May I ask why milady?"

"Well, we have a substantial budget surplus, and by Asarian law our coffers are basically my own private property. And Trira's, ah, original infiltration gave me a very good idea that I need some upgrades. After all its only a question of time until someone goes after me or Pyn again with assassins or something similar."

Anders nodded. It felt a bit weird to him, as he wasn't used to having his charges be every bit as lethal as his guards, but the baroness and her knight had more than proven their prowess in combat.

"What about your bodyguards milady?"

"I'm sure we'll find some upgrades for them as well. Which reminds me, with the mana we are getting, I would like you to draft a budget to start rearming and reequipping our troops with more advanced weapons, with your best estimates." She smiled. "We won't take any decision until the Tarkian delegation gets here obviously, but I'd like some numbers so Melia and I can start making some plans."

"Of course milady! Although, I'd like to point out that hardware is only part of the problem, especially if we buy Tarkian weapons."

Allya grimaced.

"I know, I know. They'll need training too, and that promises to be a pain. Still, I presume that if our Tarkian friends prove accommodating in weapons, we'll be able to get some trainers as well. And push comes to shove, well, that's where your contacts in the Far Reach come in."

Anders nodded. It was an open secret that the Tarkian Hegemony had shipped trainers by the hundreds to the Far Reach to teach and train the clans there. It was unlikely that they'd be able to get any of them through unofficial channels, but the clans had fifteen years to form their own training cadre, and they hated the Republic with a burning passion. With the proper financial incentives they would be more than delighted to provide some assistance, Gods forbid.

"I see milady. Very well, I'll have my estimates on your desk by tomorrow."

"Thank you commander. Now, on top of the demonstration, I also had the foresight to bring a map of our planned defenses to the dungeon, and managed to take a few minutes of the dungeon core time's to discuss the basis of a common deployment plan." Allya got up, and tapped on the map. "Crystal is proposing that we widen these emplacements to accommodate golem garrisons, and build fortified artillery emplacements here and her for her cannons to cover the approaches to the strongholds. Then-"

Anders nodded as he leaned over the table and Allya began laying out the plan, his mind already whirling with ideas.

*****

"So, is everything ready?"

"For some values of 'ready' milady." Said Sarah as she looked at the second floor, before shrugging. "You said the logistics parts are done, and I fixed the issue with the water. So yes, I'd say."

Alexandra nodded as she looked at the maid curiously. At first she'd taken the maid for, well, a very lethal bodyguard shoved into a maid dress, but it turned out the vampire was very smart in her own right and would have made a fantastic NCO. Shit, she probably was an NCO, the Earth-born had no real idea how the duchess' personal maid army worked in terms of ranks!

She also displayed a surprising level of initiative, and while she would follow a plan outlined before her, she wouldn't hesitate to change some stuff if she thought it was necessary. Since Alexandra had been busy being dragged around by Emilia to turn the command center, core room and communications room into something that wasn't just purely functional and make them more lived in, then had spent almost a solid day discussing the future with her advisor and updating the vampire girl on her plans, she'd thrown Sarah at the second floor to see if there were any remaining issues while she expanded the forges in the background.

"Excellent then! I'll dispatch a golem to warn the baroness so the guild and her can set up something come morning." Alexandra looked at the floor around her and sighed. "Damn, this feels weird. I know the place was destroyed, but even I have a hard time telling the difference."

"Don't worry milady, the adventurers will be able to tell the difference." Said Sarah with an evil grin, which Alexandra answered in kind.

The maid might not be trained to use the kind of traps and mines Alexandra manufactured, but she had viciousness to spare and apparently some issues to work out. Since she couldn't massacre Republic soldiers or slowly lower their senators into an acid bath, she's clearly decided that adventurers would make an acceptable substitute for now.

Hence some of the modifications to the floor that would make the adventurers' lives…interesting. She'd even suggested some new golem types, and while they'd proven a royal pain in the ass to design and manufacture, the spider mine golems were terrifying. The warhead was purely magical, like the bouncing betties, and fairly anemic compared to them, but they could leap through the air at whatever target roused them and reposition if they missed their original victim, not to mention patrol the floor.

To make it fair the only areas they deployed in had some serious loot added, like, say, an absolutely giant vein of coal ore, as well as several ingredients and a treasure chest, depending on the area.

She'd also helped improve the challenge temple, which originally only had four monk golems, and while it was significantly harder now and would give even silver ranked adventurers a run for their money, the prizes were…substantial. Notably a fair chunk of runed items straight out of Alexandra's prototypes and research, plus some of the lower grade potions and poisons Ella had helped developed, including a surprisingly powerful healing brew.

"Indeed they will. Now, I heard the influence stabilizers were done?"

"Well, they're running more or less smoothly and not exploding anyway." Said Emilia as she pulled out her notebook. "I don't know if they work as advertised, since we don't have an influence disruptor to test it."

"Well, they also enable me to reduce disruption from adventurers and such, right?"

"Interference. And in theory, not to mention only up to a certain point, but yes. Most big dungeons have some running 24/7, or so I've been told."

"Right. Well, we can see if they function at least a bit. Wait, hold on, if they have them why are their first floors still inaccessible?"

"As I said, its only up to a point. It'll help a lot, with powerful individuals especially, but there's a limit. Its more like…reinforcing your natural push back against their interference. The more powerful you are compared to them, the lesser their interference area, they act as something of a capped multiplier to that."

"Right." Alexandra sighed. "Well, I guess we'll need them."

"You mean against the Republic?"

"No, I mean in general." Alexandra winced. "With the main dungeon back up and running, and the people that are sure to gather up at the entrance again, I'm basically out of space to build that dedicated military exit for my forces. You know, the one I agreed to so the adventurers guild wouldn't pop a vessel?" Plus it would more or less become a requirement if she started offensive operations, but Emilia was very much aware of that and the maids very didn't need to be.

They'd probably figure it out anyway in the end. These vampires were smart. And case in point with her talk with Emilia, not to be underestimated. Alexandra was under no illusion that their current situation wouldn't last very long, the maids were military after all, they'd recognize an offensive buildup when they saw one, but provided that it lasted long enough, and the Republic was considerate enough to attack again, she would probably be able to make one hell of an argument to Etheria that it was either this or their enemies would put her daughter and grand daughter into body bags. Figuratively, in CQ's case, since her body was made out of mana and disintegrated upon death.

"Oh, right. Well, you can just expand your influence to-Ah. I see what you mean."

"Yeah. If I expand my influence I'll start hitting the city."

"Well…its not like you have another choice."

"There are options, but most of them would be pains in the ass. Besides, I'm sure the extra mana generation will compensate the headache."

"Hopefully. Should we start making ready to have the influence expanded?"

"Yeah, add it at the top of the to-do list. Let's get this done!"