Raging Concerns

I walked back into the mansion I had taken over as headquarters to all the movement inside the City, with my mother walking behind me. I slammed the door, and I roared out my frustration and anger. I sneered, and my fist hit and shattered a part of the brick and several around it, with the clay or motor falling apart where my fist hit, leaving a large hole into a thick brick wall.

I turned and looked at my mother, and the snarl was on my face, "They fucking want to SHUT ME OUT!" I snapped, "THOSE STUPID FUCKERS!" I almost blasted the floor and realized my anger was making my mana fluctuate all around my body, with rage being its main mover. I felt the need to kill that piece of shit, Elder Redscale. The Dragonic had barely done anything for this war, so he wanted to take over the decision-making. 

"This is all because they don't want to open up the goddamn Dragons hoard back home," I sneered. "They don't want to spend their precious Treasury on the war that is affecting the smallest tribes the most. They don't even give a fuck about the smaller tribespeople being enslaved. How many of the slaves are Dragonic?" I sneered, "No, their people are fine! So, they do not want to open their coffers for this war. They just want the achievements while we FINANCE THIS ENTIRE FUCKING WAR!" I roared, and my mother watched me, and I turned to look at her.

"You going to fucking say something, Mother?" I snapped.

"You are not wrong, so why should I say anything, Honey?" My mother replied kindly, "They need to show that they are doing something, and the news going through your people back home and those injured is that you accomplished everything. You are the one that punched the Empire in the face and took a City from them. Captured a massive amount of territory and accomplished something that had never been done against the Empire. If you want me to say more about it, then I really have nothing to say, Honey," My mother shrugged, "You are right. They have nothing to show for their contribution while the Bunny-kin Tribe has opened our Treasury; we have organized separate forces and logistical paths to aid the war effort. We sent soldiers in the Main, Elite, and Logistical armies. We, Bunny-kin, under your eyes, have done everything to all the other tribes. I  heard before I came here that the Bear-kin are looking to join with the Bunny-kin Tribe, and apparently, one of their people just broke through to A rank. That means they can sit at the Elder table. Smaller tribes without A rankers have been begging to join our tribe, and our influence is reaching a new peak."

My mother shrugged as I glared at her, "You have accomplished too much too quickly. Now they are desperate to get some of that influence back."

"THEN FUCKING OPEN THEIR DAMN TREASURY AND STAY OUT OF MY FUCKING WAR!" I snapped, "THEY ARE GOING TO GET THE MAIN ARMY KILLED!"

"That is not a fact, and you know it. Isabelle has not been idling around, Honey. She has been watching you and listening to your orders despite hating that she had to. She has overridden Elder Redscale as the War Chief and adopted a defensive posture for the army. She has been reading your reports on the logistics and understands that, as you have said, we are not in a position to push forward."

I opened my mouth to retort and closed it. I would have done the same, sneering, "Good; at least tell me she is protecting the flanks with mobile scouts to watch for small detachments trying to  cut off our supplies."

"She is," my mother replied calmly. Isabelle was actually against Redscales' attempt to block you out completely, I have been told. Elder Kitty has been very informative about the meeting that took place without me."

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at my mother. "Fine, you're right; if she has done that, then maybe I should put more trust in her. Isabelle has been listening to my orders and watching me this entire time. She did not even need to follow my orders, but the Army Morale was focused on me." 

I felt the rage start turning more into raw anger and took a series of deep breaths. "No, this might even be a good thing for me. The main forces are not exactly happy that I stopped them from raping and looting the city to the ground. This will be a time when Isabelle is in control, and she can shine. But it also works more against her than me. I have control of the city, and it is slowly starting to shape up in my favor. Actually, it has been at light speed compared to what I was expecting. We are foreign conquerors, and people are settling down pretty quickly. Many of the people are actually grateful for our clean-up jobs on the undead that keep damn well appearing."

"That has been a gift to you?" My mother questioned.

"It has remarkably helped. The people know that if the Undead appears inside their homes, our people will come in, kill them, and leave them alone, trying not to destroy their houses. Apparently, the Empire had been much rougher than we had been, with much more sticky fingers."

My mother looked at me surprised and blinked a couple of times. "It is unexpected that humans are already accepting us into their homes."

"Not all of them, but the civilians without strength have no damn choice. The undead are in their house, destroying their things. They need us, and we are working with them to clean it up. We need them to report the undead before they start to build up. One of our squads found a concentration of Undead that numbered in the upper fifties to a hundred was the count. It seems the more undead in an area, the more likely it is that another Undead will appear in that area. Which then concentrates the death mana there or whatever this damn spell is and makes more. It turns into a vicious cycle where, if left alone, they could turn into thousands. Doubtful to happen, but theoretically, if this city was abandoned for two or three years? We might even see the spawn of more sinister skeletons like Liches."

"That is doubtful," My mother replied.

I shrugged, "It is a theory I cannot try. I fought with a Lich before, and it is like Concentrated Death Mana. If you get to a certain amount," I shrugged again, "You might get to a concentration enough to spawn a lich or two. I have not studied the Necromantic arts to know what else might spawn. So, Now the Elite army squads, although not like, are starting to look like a necessary evil, and ultimately, better than the previous guards."

My mother looked at me, surprised, and her mouth opened and closed. "Did you see this happening before coming here?" My mother asked.

"What?" 

"Did you predict this?" My mother asked again seriously.

I started to chuckle. "Mother, no, Not all of this," I motioned around us, "But the thing is, I spent some time thinking about how I would take control of a City before this war started. This Border city is the only real claim we will be able to take from the Empire. I think if we go deeper, the Kingdom will get involved, and we already are dangerously expanding our border with them while also shrinking the amount of border we have with the Empire. So, with this being the only real territory claim I think we can take from the Empire, I had to think. How can I effectively control this city?"

I stared into her eyes, partially lying and telling the truth, as much of the knowledge came from my previous world. "First, I need to take the City itself," I said, motioning around me. I raised an eyebrow, making my mother nod, "Once we have the City, we need to clear the last of the soldiers or at least any meaningful resistance with one clear thing added to make it more Complicated," I smiled, "We must limit Civilian Casualties to the utmost. We cannot go around raping and looting them as we take over their city. Which some of the main army did." I sighed, "The eastern part of the city is not very happy with us right now, but there are some counter elements."

"That cannot only be it," My mother said with a sharp tone, looking at me. 

"Of course, it isn't. The next part is much harder; you need to return their lives back to normal under Martial law. Even as everything has changed, make the civilian population feel that life has not gotten worse, and bonus if you can make them feel that Life has even gotten better." I smiled, "That is something we do have; the Empire's soldiers and guards' sticky fingers made us clean out the Undead even better than before. They feel safer and like we are better than the previous administration, if only by a little." I took a breath and smiled as if it was a good sign, "Then the last part to make the humans living here accept us is to bring economic activity back and either make the civilian population richer because we are here or bring in more trade."

My smile turned bright, "Now because we are buying grain at a heightened cost using the fleeing Nobility's gold, I can do that last part. They are getting richer without it, looking like we are just bribing the population. They are working in their fields, Reaping harvest, and we are not stealing from them. Hell, We are not even taxing the population! We are purchasing for a more than fair cost! They are richer because we are here; they are starting to see goods moving in because I am also allowing the logistics department to sell them certain things from home to make their coin worth something. Now, Mother, Tell me what you would think as a civilian who had just been occupied a couple of weeks ago by a foreign power. How would you feel after the new occupier is making your life better and richer than before?"

"That the previous regime was worse, and I would rather be in the new regime's hands. They are not taxing me; they are paying me for my labor, and as long as none of my family died not to die in the attack," My mother's eyes were wide, and she stared at me.

"That is right; The reason is to stop people from hating us because we raped their wives and their families and stole all their belongings. The Parents of soldiers will still hate us, but the people who hated the nobles, the military, and the guards will like us more. They won't love us but will like us more than the previous administration. Then, with us staying here, those who hate us for killing their sons and daughters will be drowned out by those who are living better lives. That is how I plan on taking over Border City and making it so they never want to go back to the Empire, and one day," I grinned, "Join the Elite army with pride in their hearts, helping the Beast-kin instead of trying to enslave us."

After explaining all that, I sighed: "At least that is my hope. It will take years of work and planning, but if done right, we will turn Border City into what stops any slavers from entering our lands again. It will act as a shield for a lot of movement and show that Beast-kin can live with humans without genocide. This will also rob them of being able to call a race war because humans are living with us harmoniously."

"There is a lot of hope in that, ingenious and will take a long time," My mother said.

I shrugged, "This plan has to start from the conquering, and we have to hold this city. We must hold this city at the end of the war. I have so many plans for this city. I only hope I can find a governor under my control to take it over when we are called back home."

"You think that we are going to hold this territory?" My mother asked seriously.

"I am damn well going to try," I replied with a smile, "As long as the Empire does not bring every A ranker to the front just as we are not bringing all of ours to the front, then they can only push against our forces. It will come down to C rankers and B rankers on the front. That is where this war will lie because I might be wrong, but I think we might have A rank parity with our recent kills on the Empire. It was a strong start to the war, and the Empire was reeling from it. That is the way they MUST react. I have no idea how many A rankers they have, but I know if we lost SEVEN A rankers, we would be cowering back in the damn Sivermoon tower hiding from the humans suing for peace."

"That is true, but they are also here in front of us in numbers, and their forces have more than at least three A rankers.

"They are probably hiding more than we are, and you, A rankers, are probably not going to do more than slap each other in the coming days. Unless that is, they are going to make major movements, which we certainly should not want to be doing. I will talk with Isabelle in our next meeting. Honestly, the more they are willing to stand out there while I finish up the supply lines, make new Warehouses, and, more importantly, MAKE A DAMN ROAD, we will be better off. I also have a hope for something else coming up, but there is one thing I am really damn scared of."

"What is it?"

"Where is my Sister? She is supposed to be my eyes and ears in the Empire, but I have yet to hear from her from the start of the campaign. I have yet to receive intelligence from our spies in the Empire. Is Isabelle getting it and not telling me? I need information on the Empire's movements. Honestly, I am worried because I did not know when the Empire started consolidating this force. If I can get this information beforehand, I can plan around it. I can sabotage their roads along the way. Set up Wizards to Ambush their forces and flee, tiring their soldiers out. I can do more with what I have!"

"I will look into this; you are right; it is worrying," my mother said now. I was planning on spending the night, but that reminder," my mother's voice trailed off. I am going to investigate." Then she turned to me, "I want your attention when I get back. I want your Doorknocker inside me, but you have brought up a worry for my daughter that I also care about. I will look into things and find out."

With that, my mother moved, her mana leaving wisps of snow behind her, and I was left alone in my headquarters with my restrained rage. Damnit, I need to see if there is anything in that damn sketchy system that I have. Maybe something can help me quickly power up.