Bustling T'cammen

Mago fell down through the patch of earth that he had stomped upon. The drop was around two meters, so Mago easily landed on his feet, unhurt. Glancing around, he wondered what this place was.

He could see several tunnels connecting to the spot he was in. It seemed to be an intersection of sorts. Mago walked around the underground area, checking the different tunnels and the ceiling. he could see several soft patches on the roof and quickly came to a conclusion.

'No wonder the citizens suddenly disappeared. They must have used this huge network of tunnels.' Mago realized.

Having made a significant discovery, Mago quickly made his way up from the tunnels and reported it immediately to High Commander Andremes. Hearing of Mago's findings, he was shocked. They had scoured through the city several times without finding any clues to the disappearance of the citizens of T'cammen.

"It has rained heavily for the last few days with the wind blowing constantly. It might be the reason why the disguised patches of earth started to deteriorate.", Commander Gauder mused. Andremes had summoned him and the other Commanders and Colonels as soon as Mago had told him about the tunnels.

"But since the tunnel network seems to be so vast, it will be impossible to pinpoint the exact route that the tribesmen took.", one of the Colonels commented.

"We don't need to find the exact tunnels, they most likely escaped south towards the territories of Poison tribe and Spirit tribe. What we need to do is block the tunnels in order to prevent them from launching a surprise attack within the city.", Andremes declared.

This earned murmurs of approval from the surrounding officials. A battle within the city where they would be ambushed by the tribesmen would be disastrous for the Imperial army.

"So we need to block the tunnels. But how? We can't just wantonly blow them up. It could cause parts of the city to collapse.", Mago interjected.

"You are right. We need to carefully scout the tunnels and figure out which have sturdy enough surroundings that they can be blown up. We need to barricade the others.", Andremes replied. They couldn't have the Empire's newest city crumbling.

The arm spent the next few days exploring and blocking the tunnels. Explosions could be heard throughout the day, the ground shaking violently after each explosion, but it did not cave in or crumble. The Empire was very careful about that.

After destroying the tunnels that they could, they started to build up blockades, except for a few ones that were currently being explored by scouts. They wanted to find out where some of them led. Just as they had guessed, most of the tunnels led towards the south and exited near the swamps that the Poison tribe resided in.

The Imperial scouts also found some tribesmen within the tunnels that were scouting. They easily killed them, preventing any information from leaking to the enemy. Sure, they would now realize that the army had found out about the tunnels, but it was better than having them know exactly which ones were already blocked or what the army was up to. They couldn't be sure that they had found all of the tunnels. There could be other entrances that they hadn't managed to find.

Like this two weeks quickly passed by. Mago and his men were also part of the troops scouting the tunnels and building blockades, and they spend the rest of their time training. Mago's Division was finally showing great results. They acted well together and had learned of their comrades' shortcomings and did their best to support each other.

'The people from the Empire should arrive soon with the supplies. Once they arrive and settle in the city we will finally begin our advance towards the remaining two major tribes.' Mago thought inside his hut as he was preparing to go to sleep.

He was looking forward to seeing his Division in action. No matter how much they trained or how good the results were, their true worth would be decided on the battlefield.

'I'm sure they won't disappoint me.' he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

As Mago had guessed, a few days later the merchants and workers arrived with their families. The Empire had offered them generous remuneration for being the first ones to populate and build the new city.

Mago could see the looks of wonder and disappointment upon some of the faces of the new arrivals. The men seemed to be fascinated by the primitive buildings, while the women looked extremely disappointed by their new homes. It would probably take them some time to get used to since it was leagues apart from the developed cities of the Empire.

The new residents quickly settled in and began their work. They started with a district close to the center of the city, dismantling the huts and crude blocks of wood called houses while building new ones in their place. They would start with shops and then build their new homes since the new residents needed a place to conduct trade, and the soldiers were also eager to buy some goods they previously didn't have access to, in the jungle.

In only two weeks, several new wooden buildings that operated as shops could be seen, with a constant stream of people going in and out of them. Most of the customers were soldiers.

The atmosphere in the city was peaceful and happy. Several young women had followed their fathers, brothers or in-laws or friends to start a new life within the jungle, and they were constantly being hit on by the soldiers who had been mostly surrounded by other sweaty men.

There were women within the army, but most of them were not interested in having any kind of relationships with fellow soldiers, or simply swung the other way. And those who were ready to spend their nights with their fellow comrades in arms were always surrounded by men, and the competition to woo them was fierce.

But now, as new women had arrived, the soldiers were constantly trying different ways to win their hearts. Ragan was especially active, with his title of manwhore, which Bismark had so kindly granted him, displaying its full might. He didn't spend a single night alone ever since the residents arrived.

Ragan who had recently broken through to the rank of Archmage was happily showing off his new rank. As an Archmage was a highly respected figure in the Empire, the young women easily flocked to the handsome young mage.

This quickly earned Ragan frustrated looks from his fellow soldiers and he was dubbed as the 'common enemy of men' because of his heavy monopoly on the women.

Well, Ragan was too busy with his new girls to care. When one had a soft bosom to rest upon every night, one would be surprised how little they cared about other things.

Bismark simply tried to enjoy his free time napping, but quickly found out that there was a problem. Seeing a new young Archmage, the women flocked towards him and Bismark had a hard time escaping from their clutches.

After a week of constant pestering, Bismark was on the verge of tears. Why couldn't these beasts leave him alone? He simply wanted to rest in peace. Why was it so hard?

When one evening Bismark vented out his frustration to the other soldiers, they simply looked at him with envy and jealousy and gave him the nickname 'bragging bastard'. Not for a moment did they believe that Bismark didn't enjoy the attention he received. Only Claude and Azeth, who knew what Bismark was truly like, gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Mago on the other hand laughed so hard that tears were rolling down his face. Bismark was perhaps the only man within the city who didn't wish for the attention of the women.

But soon the peaceful days came to an end. It was time for the army to start advancing further into the jungle.

Mago and the other officers were gathered in the command center. The mood there was tense. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the new commands from the High Commander.

"All right. As previously discussed, the army will be divided into two from here on. Considering the possible existence of tunnels we haven't found yet, we have decided to leave 25,000 men to defend T'cammen instead of the original 20,000. The rest 50,000 will be advancing towards the territory of the Poison tribe.", Andremes declared while looking at the officers around him.

"Who will be staying in T'cammen?", asked one of the Colonels of the 3rd Corps.

"I was just getting to that. Staying behind in T'cammen will be Gauder and his 1st Corps. They have exactly 24,000 men in total so we will be picking a regiment from the other Corps to accompany them.", High Commander Andremes replied.

Hearing this, the men nodded. Gauder's troops had taken a heavy hit during the previous siege and it would be good to not put the inexperienced Colonel straight to the battlefield.

Mago on the other hand felt slightly annoyed but there was nothing he could do. The High Commander's judgment was sound, and in his position, Mago would do the same.

'Well, we will get a chance to test our fighting prowess later.' he figured. The campaign was far from over.