Calm Before the Storm

A week has passed since the annexation of Hadrow and Dawn, and at least on the surface, the situation has calmed slightly. The Oulvgar has been charged with the operations around Hadrow while Asterion and the Warband have taken charge of Dawn.

In Hadrow, the Oulvgar doubly serve as a symbol of fear that keeps the populace quiet as well as a governing force. Under Astur's orders, the fortifications of Hadrow have been rebuilt, and they're stronger than before. Deery and the Great Tree stimulated the growth of the land, causing large trees to grow in a matter of days. Using these trees Woody and the other Beavers rebuilt the walls of Hadrow. Despite being made of wood, they are far sturdier than the old wall of concrete and metal.

The ruined mounted heavy weapons on the wall have also been replaced with organic cannons made of wood, capable of shooting on their own due to being connected to the hivemind of the Great Tree. Similarly, tree roots are hidden beneath the ground surrounding Hadrow, and should it be necessary, the roots can shoot up like spikes from the ground to impale trespassers.

With the entirety of Hadrow having been in some way injured, it goes without saying that production had essentially come to a halt. Taking advantage of this Astur found an opportunity to finish her Apothecary Advancement Quest, as there are a couple of thousand people in need of treatment in Hadrow and plenty of them meet the level requirement. Over the course of the week, the incapable population of Hadrow was brought back to a condition where they can work again, albeit barely. And the Oulvgar left them without a moment to spare before telling them to work.

Although the new fortifications of Hadrow seem fragile at first glance and the population barely in working condition, the Town is a far cry away from where it was a week ago.

The Town of Dawn has fared significantly better than Hadrow, mostly due to their peaceful surrender. Since there was no fight, Dawn was immediately a productive source of income for the Holy Oulvgar State upon its annexation.

Unlike Hadrow, Dawn is far enough away from the Sea of Trees that it never had to worry about an overflow of monsters like the beast tide, as such it lacks the same infrastructure for fortifications that Hadrow has. This problem immediately stood out to Asterion as he quickly began the construction of walls and other defensive structures around the town and its farmlands. Compared to the building speed of the Oulvgar, the construction is far slower, with the outer walls only partially built as of now. But the overall design of the fortifications are better than the Oulvgar's designs around Hadrow as Asterion and several of the Warband's members are well versed in fortress architecture. Asterion's plan for Dawn is to transform it from a small town into a medium-sized self-sufficient fortress. But such a plan can't possibly be done within the small-time span of a week with just the Warband.

The people of Dawn haven't been too affected by the presence of the Warband and for the most part, can go about their daily lives as normal. Of course, several shops are temporarily closed because of the lack of people travelling, so there are plenty of people simply idling around with nothing to do. The clergy and most of the loyalist Officials have already fled the town and as such there aren't many dissidents. Some of the idlers have even been doing some work for the Warband to kill time and make some money on the side, helping with their constructions efforts. This isn't to say there isn't anyone still in the Town of Dawn who is dissatisfied with the current status quo, but the sight of Asterion towering above them is more than to keep these people quiet in public spaces.

The crusading forces of humanity haven't been silent this past week and have also been making their final preparations. The forces of have the participating nations have gathered. The Kingdom of Virpal has mustered the Royal army as well as the Provincial Armies, while not all the Provincial Armies answered the call, the Kingdom was able to bring together roughly 500,000 troops.

The Kalthros Empire sent about 250,000 soldiers under the command of the Viceroy of Aiolos, Stanislav Levitsky. Although the reports from the Kingdom's border guards say the number is higher and suspects the missing numbers have spread out through the nation to serve as spies.

From across the sea, the Republic of Hinthro has sent a surprisingly large force of 180,000 soldiers, surpassing most people expectations. The soldiers themselves are no slouches as the coast guards of the Kingdom report that the special forces of Hinthro make up a bulk of the army. Although things fall into place once it's revealed that their leader is Raúl Campoy the son of Hinthro's current President. The thought of the Kingdom's intelligence agency is that Raúl is looking for military achievements to kickstart his political career and eventually become the President of the Republic of Hinthro.

From the south, the Republic of Lithro sent about 130,000 soldiers under the command of one of their veteran Generals. Reports from the border guards say that they have 2nd generation equipment and the army consists mostly of young new recruits. They are on the low end in terms of effectiveness with only their General to be of any real worth. Lithro likely treats this ordeal as a training exercise for the new recruits.

The army of the Church arrived in Virpal with a force of 100,000 soldiers. Although their numbers are the lowest, in terms of combat effectiveness, they would not lose out to either the Kingdom or the Empire. Blessed with divine relics and led by a group of Archbishops, they are one of the strongest of the crusading forces.

The total size of the Crusading Army is just over a million strong and now face one last problem before they set out, who is going to be the leader?