Deadtired

"Yes?" Mem asked as she perked up.

"You're in charge of informing the local mantises that they are now under... new management. I wonder... do you think it would be better to surrender the mantises to the Ashen Forest, to have them decide their own fate with a new leader, or should we relocate the lot of them to the old Hungering Inferno sect? The Limpet could use an army of auxiliaries, I think."

"Mem... thinks that the best option is whichever would allow her sisters to pick whether they have to fight or not."

Rem scoffed. "Every mantis is meant to fight, it's what we're good at!"

Mem shook her head. She clearly disagreed, and maybe she was serving as a decent example of such disagreement. "Well, I suppose the Limpet will be surprised then! Mem, seeing as how you have no other responsibilities at the moment, I'm promoting you to... Officer cadet. Work hard and your entire race won't go extinct."

Mem stared, then straightened up to give me a sloppy salute. "Sir yes Mem!"

She was enthusiastic, at least.

"Now, let's discuss the disposition of our... guests," I continued, turning to address the bound cultivators with a grandiose wave of my skeletal hand. "Cinder, ensure their bindings are secure, but leave them comfortable enough. Hospitality, even in capture, is a virtue, wouldn't you say?"

All I earned for my good grace were some glares and one of them spat between my loafers. Ah, youth, always so uncouth.

"Now now, just think of it as a mandatory sabbatical! If your sects care about you, then they'll be eager to pay off your ransoms."

The Limpet would need that money to keep her little kingdom going!

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Chapter Thirty-One — From the Observation Logs of Fenfang — Day 101

Chapter Thirty-One — From the Observation Logs of Fenfang — Day 101

Fenfang Fang's Observation Log | Day one hundred and one

Everything is bad and I'm going to die.

I should probably explain from the start, but I feel exceptionally scatterbrained at the moment and I'm not sure I could be coherent even if I wanted to.

I'm going to take a walk.

Note

I took a walk.

Note End.

I think I'm calmer now. I'm writing this near the end of the day, which is cutting into my sleeping time. I usually keep my logs updated as I go, but I've been lax about that lately. It's a bad habit I know I'll have to kick, but that's easier said than done.

Oh well.

First, the good parts.

I discovered that there's an artisan's guild in Yu Xiang. They're mostly older men and women, and they're mostly used to being on the brink of starvation. I think the only reason they've kept their skills sharp is because they seem to genuinely love what they do for art, and there's a lot of internal competition to see who's best within Yu Xiang.

In any case, that's a huge boon for me. I discovered the artisan's guild and commissioned posters early in the morning. They returned by the afternoon with sketches and I picked out a few details. Then I got into contact with a banner-maker and cloth-weaver. We're commissioning enough uniforms for an army.

Hopefully, covering the zombies in a layer of padded cloth will reduce the smell. It'll at least give something for some perfume to cling to.

Also, I've ordered the making of six barrels of strong perfume.

The artisan's guild seemed ready to commission a statue of me by the end of the day for free. I'm mostly okay with that, I can sympathise with people who worked hard for a long time and got nowhere suddenly finding some success. I think they're really going to put their all into this.

And that's where the good news trickles out.

First, someone tried to assassinate me this morning.

It wasn't a very good attempt, but its failure did cause a heap more issues.

The assassin was a young man, the favourite nephew of a former member of the city council who was ousted from his position by my actions. So that's just karma, it seems.

The attempt was kind of sad. He ran at me with a knife. I had skeleton guards with me, and they were quick to subdue him, and he was quick to spill when I threatened to turn him into a zombie without killing him first (I don't know how to do this, but he didn't know that I didn't know, so it all worked out).

In any case, rumours are flying across the city, and people are protesting about what to do with him. I decided to hand him over to the constable and let the city handle it. I think it's the best way to seem fair and impartial? I really don't know what I'm doing, but I Imagined if I was a citizen of Yu Xiang and I overheard about the strong cultivator being attacked, how would I react to various punishments handed down to the attacker?

I hope this is the right action.

The attempt was less annoying, actually, than its aftermath. I lost two whole hours of practice! And it interrupted a meeting with the happier members of the merchant's guilds. I think I'm going to have to give them a slight concession as an apology to recover my reputation.

Note

Politics are evil and I hate every minute of it.

Note End

Right, there's more bad news. An army is heading for Yu Xiang. Not a huge one, but it's been dispatched from the Mist Gate to the west. The news mostly comes from some merchants that had dealings in that direction and who receive news by pigeon.

I have maybe a week to prepare. I have no idea if Master Harold will be back by then or not, but I have to assume that he won't be.

Which means preparing for a war that I'm not ready for in the least. A week!

I don't have an idea of numbers, and I have no idea if the city will even try to help me stop an invader.

But... well, Master told me to take care of this place, and I think that does include stopping invading forces. And I think I can do it!

I've sent out teams of skeletons out into the field already. They're under the command of some smarter undead the Seventeen promoted to the task of leading the squads. They'll be delaying the enemy as they can, then once they're relatively close, I think we'll be able to launch some night raids on the army.

Next, the posters. Initially I just wanted nice, simple posters encouraging people to learn how to read and then I was going to set up night classes for literacy, writing, and eventually basic spell-craft.

I... don't know enough about magic to train others, so that's more of a long-term goal. Master mentioned mage towers and magical academies. It'll take a long time to get the foundations for that kind of thing set, but I think it's possible! I'll have to see.

But now I've changed the posters to be... basically propaganda, and me begging for people to join the city's militia.

Fortunately, I'm kind of still rich. Taxes are really great when you're the one getting paid, and with the undead doing a lot of work for free and no sect draining the city coffers, we're actually projecting to do pretty well here.

I intend to use that to create a proper armed force. A living one. Some skeletons can serve as undead training enemies, and I've already started to hand out contracts for the creation of basic armour and weapons for the undead army. It's just a matter of increasing yields in order to provide for the rest.

We are running short on iron and steel and leather, of course.

I have undead scavenging the nearby battlefield for arrowheads, and Seventeen has some more undead doing maintenance on our siege weapons.

I don't think Yu Xiang will be an easy city to take, but I don't know if we're going to have everything we need to keep it either.

Note

This city had the sect, maybe there are some former students around? We certainly have access to a lot of records from the sect. Maybe it wouldn't be impossible to spread some of the basics to the militia and soldiers we recruit?

I remember hearing that the Jade Throne's army are all lower-realm cultivators. Each and every one of them! That's what makes them such a formidable army. It should be possible to do something similar here, right?

End Note.

What else? I feel like I'm forgetting a few things...

Oh, right, my magical training!

That's basically stalled out. I'm only finding one or two free hours to train now, and that's while I dictate orders to a listening abomination who pens letters for me.

Master isn't going to be impressed at this rate!

I'll carve out more time tomorrow! Promise!

But I also need to see the posters (and make sure that the images they make of me aren't too... spicy) and then see if the City can help me organise barracks for a militia. Then recruitment and training schedules. I think I'll need to hire cryers to get the news out.

Oh! I can finally have an army recruit men and women! That'll be a nice change. Besides, I need more boots on the ground. Half of this battle, I suspect, will come down to posturing.

Oh Master... is this why cultivators are so obsessed about looking strong?

I've got to send runners to the other cities nearby as well. Shitake city is where Master and Cinder went, maybe they'll sell me their corpses and extra materials? Lave Fist city isn't in the path of this battle, they might be willing to have some crier recruit for the army there.

Oh! And I need to invest a lot into buying food from Seven Hills. That's right on the Mist Gate army's path! If I buy all of the grain and easy to produce foods, then they'll be running their army on empty stomachs. Unless they're carrying enough to keep themselves going from the start?

I need a better information network. I'm adding that to the list.

There's a lot on that list already, but I'm sure I can squeeze out one or two more things, right? Seventeen mentioned something about lessons on delegation, but I told him that he could attend those in my place. He seemed to think that was funny. I was mostly just happy that I have that many more free hours in the day.

At this rate, I'm going to go white before I'm thirty. Or maybe I'll be as bald as Master even sooner.

Well, that's assuming I live to be that old.

I can't wait for Master to be back, he'll know what to do!

* * *

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Chapter Thirty-Two — Dull Defeat

Chapter Thirty-Two — Dull Defeat

The day definitely took a turn for the dull after the Mantis Queen was dealt with.

It was actually a rather common occurrence. After victory came the not-so-enviable task of ensuring that everything was running smoothly. It did one no good to eliminate an enemy only to be left with a disorganised mess in the morning after.

I had several things to tackle, and unfortunately I could only pawn off so many of them. I resisted the urge to go on and make more pawn jokes. Time was money at the moment, and I was currently short-changed.

"Well, this is capital," I said with a dark chuckle.

Cinder looked up and in my direction, the question clear in her eyes. She had successfully gathered all of the now... mostly-undressed living cultivators into one group. They were being guarded by their previously-living comrades. Soon they'd have to deal with the zombie stench, but that was an issue for those with olfactory capabilities.

Ah, I was getting side-tracked. Yes, the situation called for several issues to be remedied. First, the cultivators. Prisoners of war were well and good, but they still needed to be moved and housed somewhere.

Second, Mem's efforts to placate and inform the local mantis population about the change in leadership was going... predictably. Which was to say that Mem's siblings seemed all too willing to kill her for the slight. Alex was currently smoothing things along by smashing anyone who disagreed too loudly into the floor with a sweep of a broom.

Thirdly, the dwarves. Orbital and Belt were being somewhat standoffish at the moment, though they were eyeing the heap of treasures by the throne with dwarven avarice.

"Cinder dear, keep an eye on our hostages for an hour or so more," I replied. "We'll be transporting them elsewhere soon enough."

Cinder nodded, acknowledging the order.

"Alex, keep Mem alive for a few more minutes please," I called out.

"Yes papa!" Alex replied.

Good, that left the dwarves. I walked over to the Sander... brothers? Cousins? Hmm, I'd never asked, and now that I thought about it, I really didn't care. "Well, as you can see, we have successfully proven capable of ridding the dwarven nation of its mantis problem."

Belt blinked, then gave his beard a tug. "Yeah, I suppose," he said. "But there's still lots of mantises around."

"Only for now. We'll be relocating them shortly. I believe that my erstwhile apprentice has been having it too easy as of late, with subordinates that actually care and listen to what she has to say. An army of belligerents will do her well! There's nothing like handling malcontents and fools to strengthen one's resolve to eventually take over the world and set things aright."

Belt didn't seem so certain about that. "Whatever you say, sir," he said. "So you're taking all of the mantises and leaving our mountain then?"

"Some of them. The more... troublesome might have to be handled in another way. But that's no concern of yours. These tunnels will be emptied by the day's end. You can announce to the Sander clan that the space is free of their old nemesis once and for all."

Belt did stand taller at the news. "The clan will be happy to hear that. It'll finally mean freeing up some good dwarves from constant guard duty."

"No more patrols," Orbital agreed.

"Well, some patrols still," Belt corrected. "But definitely fewer. Not to mention all this territory that'll be up for grabs." I could see the glimmer in his eyes.

How much space did the mantises occupy? I supposed that, with the way dwarves built their homes, it was less a question of surface area and more one of volume. With the mantises covering the entire mountaintop and going some ways below ground... yes, that was a decent amount of space that they could regain.

"I'll be ready to consider the sale of this territory in about a week's time," I said.

Belt stiffened. "The... sale?"

"Why, of course, I've conquered it, haven't I? I have plenty of reasons to want a mountain top. For one, I could shave it down and use the stone to build myself a nice tower."

"A tower," he repeated, sounding somewhat faint.

"In the elven style, of course."

Belt looked like he was about to have a stroke. "N-no," he gasped. "Sir, you must give us some time. We'll talk to our superiors."

"What do you want for this territory?" Orbital asked.

I tapped my chin. "Well, we are starting something of a rebellion, I suppose the assistance of the dwarven clans in procuring resources could be useful," I said. "We will likely need weapons and raw materials. Of course, we'll be willing to pay a fair market rate."