Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 6

Ludmila refined her new formation over the course of the next few battles, at the same time starting the slow process of replacing her Ghasts with Skeleton Warriors. Ahead of the company, Ludmila sat astride her Undead mount, sizing up a pair of Blood Meat Hulks that she wanted to replace a few of her Undead Beasts with.

The Sorcerer King had turned her exercise into a challenge of sorts, going so far as to call it a ‘game’. For a new ‘soldier’ to be dominated and added to her ranks, she had to ‘capture’ it with her existing forces first. With the Undead gradually becoming more powerful the deeper they went, Ludmila found herself in a situation where she was more often than not faced with forces that were stronger than her own.

As she carefully managed the growth of her company, Ludmila could only marvel at how the Sorcerer King had turned an otherwise gruelling trial into what she felt was an enjoyable experience with gratifying results.

“It appears that you have a dilemma.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she replied. “I think I have enough Skeleton Warriors to outpace their regeneration, but Blood Meat Hulks deal significant amounts of bludgeoning damage. With the Skeleton Warriors being mindless, they’re going to be taking the full brunt of those attacks.”

She wasn’t even sure if they could survive one good hit. If Ludmila were still Human, a single solid blow would have probably killed her or left her dying from having her organs crushed. The Blood Meat Hulks were also massive enough that a score of Skeleton Warriors could be smashed away with a single attack.

“A poor matchup, I agree,” the Sorcerer King nodded. “But it brings me to a point that I’ve been wanting to bring up. According to Shalltear, you appear to possess Job Class Levels in something like a Captain-type Commander class with aristocratic roots. However, I’ve not noted the use of any active Command Skills since we started two days ago.”

“I think I’ve heard the term before, but what exactly is a ‘Captain-type’?”

The Sorcerer King seemed to pause in thought. Ludmila looked down at the cracked earth beneath the hooves of her Undead mount. With the amount of research she had done over the last half-year, she had gained some confidence that she was filling crucial gaps in her knowledge. Whenever His Majesty broached a fresh topic, however, she wanted to squirm in embarrassment over her ignorance. It was to the degree that she was making her sovereign stop to figure out how to explain things that sounded like he thought were common sense upon initial mention.

“I’ve heard that you’ve done quite a bit of research on topics related to military matters.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then you know how an army is loosely organized, yes?”

The basic unit in any army was not an individual soldier, but a squad of them. These squads were led by Sergeants, who answered to their officers. A squad led by a Knight was known as a lance, but knighthoods were not often bestowed in Re-Estize.

In Re-Estize, a Noble’s military strength was divided into two parts. The bulk of it was the levy, where a small percentage of tenant households took turns providing a healthy male of fighting age in accordance with their contract of tenure. The second part consisted of the armed retinues of the nobility: professional fighting forces that made up the core of a territory’s fighting strength and served as the Noble’s bodyguard.

The size of a Noble’s forces were dependent on the population of their territory. Of the Six Great Nobles of Re-Estize, Marquis Raeven and Marquis Boullope had powerful personal retinues. Margrave Urovana’s capital hosted a military port with its stationed navy.

In the forces raised by a Marquis, many squads and lances combined to form the components of a company, which were led by the minor Noble who was also their liege. Regiments consisted of multiple companies and were led by the major Noble whom all the Nobles and Knights of that company were vassals of. Loose companies of minor Nobles who were direct vassals of the Marquis were also added to maintain uniform company sizes. The Marquis had a personal bodyguard equivalent to a regiment and served as the overall commander of the territory’s army.

This was all on paper, of course. In practice, Re-Estize’s military was both poorly trained and organized. Some Nobles were dismissive of the need for high-quality retinues, confident that the sheer weight of numbers provided by the levy was sufficient. The vast majority of Nobles were too poor to afford them. It was to the point that the annual skirmish with the Empire had to be financed by the Crown.

It was extremely rare for a Noble to have a company of hardened frontier Rangers like those fielded by House Zahradnik, though the Knights and personal bodyguards of powerful Nobles were presumably just as strong or stronger. None of the other Nobles stood and fought on the front lines with their men like members of her family did, as far as she knew. Like their perceptions of conflict and how they conducted themselves at the annual skirmish with the Empire, the Nobles of Re-Estize mostly saw army organization as ceremonial: officers were appointed according to aristocratic status and quantity was seen as strength.

The armies of the Baharuth Empire and the Slane Theocracy were structurally similar, but they were composed entirely of well-trained professional soldiers. These soldiers rose through the ranks through personal merit, and officers had the experience required for their positions. In the Empire, the General of each Legion answered to the Emperor, while the Slane Theocracy’s Generals were subordinate to a Marshal. Those Marshals in turn were subordinate to a Grand Marshal who oversaw the entire military and was a seated member of the Theocracy High Council.

Ludmila nodded silently, and the Sorcerer King continued speaking.

“Much like how a Fighter can focus on their swordplay and become a Sword Master, then a Sword Saint, or branch out into other specialized paths, Commander classes have their own branches of advancement. In the Empire, I believe that Legionnaires who distinguish themselves can rise to become Sergeants. Sergeant is a Job Class that possesses the Skills and Abilities necessary to operate at that level of the army. They fight with their soldiers, issue localized commands, and manage the small number of people that they are responsible for.”

“So this is the sort of Commander that I am?” Ludmila asked.

“No,” the Sorcerer King answered. “A Sergeant is a basic Job Class Level, like a Fighter or a Wizard. It offers a sampling of how one may advance, and Sergeants start leaning in one direction or another as they gain experience. One path leads to the ‘Commander’ Job Class, whose specialization lies in leading large numbers of soldiers from the rear. The Commander Job Class leads to the ‘General’ Job Class, which you may consider an upgrade to Commander.”

“If that’s the case,” she said, “why is it that I’ve been classified as a ‘Captain-type’? The ‘Commander-type’ Job Classes that you described seem to match what I’ve been doing with the Royal Army.”

“It is due to your combat capabilities,” the Sorcerer King told her. “Commanders and Generals have the basic strength of a Fighter, but a Commander-type has nowhere near the personal combat potential of a Captain. While Commanders lead from the rear, Captains lead their forces from the front. They are fully-fledged front-line combatants, and this capability is already something you have demonstrated.”

Had she been doing everything wrong? The texts included in her reading did place Sergeants as officers that fought with their soldiers, but every officer of a higher rank was described as leading from the rear. A dead commander was no good to the armies that they led, after all.

“What advantages do Captain-types hold over Commander-types?” She asked, “It seems infinitely more effective for a commander to focus on directing their troops from a place that offers superior battlefield awareness.”

“That ‘battlefield awareness’ is relative. A Commander leading from the rear may indeed have a better vantage over a larger area, but one in the front is more aware and more responsive to the flow of battle in their vicinity. All Commander Classes have certain tactical and strategic skills, but Captain-types lean towards the tactical side of things. They possess powerful active Command Skills that affect a small area. Keep in mind that, in an army, you have commanders of all types: it’s not as if you must choose one or the other. Commander-types can be placed over several Captain-types, maximizing overall effectiveness.”

Ludmila had heard stories describing this before. Tales wherein wise and cunning strategists led armies from a field headquarters while their powerful and charismatic lieutenants fought in the thick of epic battles to realize some crucial objective.

When had she last listened to something like that? Probably years ago, from a Bard invited to entertain a nobles’ luncheon or dinner in E-Rantel. Recently, she had been so focused on isolating the practical elements associated with her duties that such tales – which may or may not have been rooted in truth – had been left by the wayside.

She did find them entertaining, however – much more so than tales revolving around fantastic adventures or courtly romance. The vast majority of people favoured the Captain-types in those stories, who faced down dire threats and prevailed over impossible odds in a manner reminiscent of the heroes of legend.

Was this the reason why Aemilia and so many of the common folk saw her the way that they did? A valiant captain in the flesh: sprung from fantasies fueled by the tales of yore?

“You mentioned that both Commander and Captain-types start as Sergeants,” she said. “Does that mean I have Sergeant Job Class Levels as well?”

“I don’t believe that this is the case,” the Sorcerer King replied. “It is highly likely you have a special category of Job Class known as a ‘Prestige Class’. These Prestige Classes usually hold powerful advantages over basic Job Classes, but they require specific prerequisites to obtain. Usually, this means that one must invest in other Job Class Levels before qualifying for the ‘prize’, so to speak. In your case, however, the prerequisites are cultural.”

“The ‘aristocratic roots’ you mentioned from before?”

“Indeed,” he nodded. “Your noble birth and militant traditions are probably the qualifiers for this Prestige Class. It is said that all Nobles were once this sort of Noble in the past, due to the realities of their situation. These Nobles of the past – and those such as yourself – do not rise through the ranks of an army: they are born and raised to lead their retinues into battle. It is a powerful advantage, as you have skipped straight to an advanced Job Class with all that such a start entails.”

Ludmila wasn’t sure what an ‘advanced’ Job Class entailed, but the Sorcerer King stated that it was a good thing. The way he described how she ‘obtained’ her Job Class Levels also reflected the strange way by which Lady Shalltear and his other subordinates saw vocations. Everything was broken down into levels and prerequisites and different classes; scrutinized as if one could learn all that mattered about someone by doing so.

“I believe I understand what you’ve said thus far, Your Majesty,” Ludmila said. “But I’m still as much in the dark as before about what you mentioned. What is the difference between an ‘active Command Skill’ and what I’ve been using to augment the offensive power of my soldiers?”

“Hmm…I suppose we might need to use more concrete terminology. The Skill that you’ve been using is an Aura – a Battlefield Aura, to be precise. Auras can be activated and maintained at will. The ‘active Command Skills’ that I mentioned are Skills that deliver their effects on use and persist for a limited duration. Shalltear mentioned that you grasped one early on, using it to rouse one of your maids. We’ll just call them ‘Commands’ from now on to avoid confusion.”

“So the Skill that I used to rouse Aemilia when she fainted was a ‘Command’? What about all these orders I’ve been issuing to my company this entire time?”

The Sorcerer King fell silent at her question, and the crimson points of his eyes winked out.

“Ah, I see,” his eyes flared to life again. “No, those are simply instructions. The Skill you are using to issue those instructions is actually an anomaly that is at odds with what is known about Captain-type classes. This ability to communicate over long distances with a large number of people should be a Skill associated with Commander-types. It may have something to do with nobles needing to command forces from their territories, which are generally larger than what a regular Captain commands. If a territory is populous enough, a Noble may have forces larger than an army led by a General. Some other Skills and Abilities may have bled into your Prestige Class under the same rationale, so be aware of any possibilities that may come to mind when developing them.”

Never mind developing Skills and Abilities, Ludmila was fairly certain that people were unaware that they even had the potential to use them. As noted when she and her friends first started exploring what was possible for Nobles, it was likely that most unconsciously developed their Skills and Abilities throughout their rule and according to their style of leadership. Those who experienced their effects would attribute the Skills as flavours of leadership, force of personality or weight of authority. Other Job Classes would similarly attribute what they developed to ‘common sense’.

“In that case, what are some examples of Commands?”

“Simple ones are not complicated – you might perceive them as orders imbued with the power of your Job Class. For instance, if your soldiers are too slow to evade an attack, a Command can make it so that they can.”

“Are they connected to Martial Arts in some way?” Ludmila asked, “What you describe is similar to Evasion, but in this case, one is conferring it to their subordinates rather than using it themselves.”

“Commands improve performance,” the Sorcerer King answered. “While they can affect multiple subordinates, one cannot order them to do something they cannot do. You can use a Command to help mages ignore interruptions and speed up the casting time of Fireball, but you cannot order one of these Skeleton Archers to cast Fireball. If that were possible, I’m certain someone, somewhere would have figured that out and conquered the world by now.”

Ludmila turned her gaze to the Undead company, trying to make sense of how one could turn any order into a performance altering Skill. With Aemilia, she had done something like conferring her reassurance in order to fortify her mental state. Undead did not have a ‘mental state’ to influence, however – they were immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.

She ordered several Skeleton Warriors to run around her formation. As they made their first lap, she barked out an order.

“Run!”

Their pace remained unchanged. After five more laps with no success, Ludmila felt more than a bit embarrassed.

“Just to be sure, Your Majesty,” she asked, “this is possible, yes?”

“Oh yes,” the Sorcerer King answered. “A brief boost to speed is fairly basic when it comes to Commands.”

The Skeleton Warriors continued their tireless circuit around her company as Ludmila reviewed the other times she had done something similar.

Every instance she had successfully used her ability-augmented voice was in civilian settings, such as helping Aemilia to overcome her fear, compelling Liam to answer earnestly, or instilling a sense of importance to her words if she thought someone wasn’t treating matters appropriately.

They were all ‘mental’ in nature: subtly influencing one’s state of mind. What she was trying to do now was ‘physical’, ordering specific actions. One might have thought ‘just do the same thing’, but she couldn’t sense any connection between the two.

“Perhaps it would be better to feel things out in combat?”

She nodded and ordered her single Wraith forward to harass the pair of Blood Meat Hulks. The Undead all around them reacted as well. A frown crossed her face as she watched a Skeleton Warrior in the melee take a hit. The hapless Undead went flying and shattered on a pile of stones several metres away. It wasn’t long until the wide, heavy swings of the Blood Meat Hulks cleared everything away.

With only the two Blood Meat Hulks remaining, Ludmila scowled at the scattered bones over the pile of stones. The Skeleton Warriors in her company would meet their end the same way if she couldn’t figure out how to use Commands. Lacking confidence in both her Undead horse’s ability to evade attacks and her ability to control it while fighting, she dismounted to dispatch one of the Blood Meat Hulks. She went back to the area in front of her company with the second one in tow.

Ludmila instructed one of her Skeleton Warriors to come forward. After evading another ponderous swing from the Blood Meat Hulk, she ordered it to attack. The Skeleton Warrior jabbed its blade into the left leg of its opponent, and the Blood Meat Hulk turned its attention to it once Ludmila backed away.

“Dodg–”

The Skeleton Warrior was blasted away, and the Blood Meat Hulk came after her again. It wasn’t as simple as conveying an order – she would need to grasp the timing of each combatant as one not directly involved in the fight.

She recalled His Majesty’s words about Captains being in a better position to read and respond to the flow of battle. There was indeed no way that a General leading from the rear of an army could issue such precise local Commands – they probably wouldn’t even notice what was going on in a large-scale battle until something happened that affected entire regiments.

Ludmila called in the next Skeleton Warrior. The Ghasts she had been using as light infantry had by now been completely replaced by them, meaning that she had 23 attempts left. She switched places with the fresh soldier.

“Dodge!”

The Skeleton Warrior was smashed into the ground.

Next…

“Dodge!”

Her third Skeleton Warrior moved to avoid the strike, but it was too slow.

She had a good feeling about number four. It responded to instructions to dodge the Blood Meat Hulk and managed to avoid being obliterated. It hadn’t moved any faster than it normally did, however. The Skeleton Warrior slashed at the knee of the Blood Meat Hulk, and Ludmila prepared her next attempt.

“Dodge!”

This time, the Skeleton Warrior was too slow. A sweeping backhand smashed into its left side, sending it into the air.

“Why didn’t you dodge!!!”

Ludmila’s shout echoed after the spray of shattered bones. She purposely avoided looking behind her, afraid of what the Sorcerer King and Lady Shalltear might say.

A giant fist descended upon her, and she blocked the attack with the haft of her glaive. As His Majesty had described, a proper defence that resulted in no damage also meant that she did not budge from the blow that would have otherwise hammered her to the ground.

Ludmila forced the Blood Meat Hulk back and called in the next Skeleton Warrior. She sighed as she was left with another pile of bone fragments.

It was going to take a while.

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