War 5: Supply Line Surprise

Another three months passed, Prince Roland and Colonel vont Smith company's guerrilla warfare had been effective. The Albanian mage Squads, Infantry, and Signal were all decimated.

Yet, Fermions center and flanks continued to hold the front, at the expense of thousands of lives.

To fill the front, the King ordered the Mage and Knight academies to close to bolster the troops at the front. The academies closed after the midyear matches.

Both academies sent Will a letter saying, he retained his first and second place rank. Moreover, Will was promoted from first lieutenant to captain, due in part to his six months performance and leadership vacuum.

When Will was promoted to captain, he was given an office in Command Office. Will gave Grace and Sarah his and Miles' old office on the second floor of the warehouse.

Not only did Will become captain, but he advanced from Deputy Quartermaster to Quartermaster. Now, Will was responsible for both the warehouse, supply routes, and supplies on the front lines.

Will's supervisor was a colonel stationed in Yorkshire. Other than the Quartermaster-General only General Brash could command Will now. It had been nine months since Will was deployed. Will returned to the Central Command building.

"Welcome Captain vont Ballard, please follow me to your office," Layla said. She first greeted him on his arrival and now she led him to his new office.

She led Will to the back of the first floor to a large mahogany desk. The office was small, the yellowish-brown desk barely fit. The white office walls were bare, two windows overlooked the valley.

Will couldn't see the fighting, but he did see a line of injured soldiers walking from the valley to the makeshift infirmary.

"Layla, I need a desk for Miles," Will said.

"I can have a desk brought over, where should it go?" Layla asked.

"Put it outside the door. Please notify the office staff to drop letters or request to Miles," Will said.

"Got it!" Layla said before leaving.

The arrival of the Knight and Mage Academy students was a boon to the barracks and central command. The inn, where the noble officers slept, became much livelier. The youthful arrogance and ignorance made the senior offices and veteran soldiers laugh.

The ambitious knights and mages did not know the reality of war. War was Hell! War was a frightening nightmare. Each trip to the frontlines was a march to your possible death. Many of the academy students had romantic ideas of war. The shiny knight, who victoriously saves the day; was far from the gruesome reality of war.

Will knew. He had read the reports. Jason told him the realities. Will knew enough to know war should be avoided until all avenues of peace were exhausted.

To date, there were 10 thousand casualties and 2 thousand injured. In a country of millions, that number was but a fraction of the population. Of those thousands killed or injured, nobles' deaths could be counted on two hands. Overwhelmingly, commoners were like sheep led to slaughter.

It was no wonder Bubba looked to escape the horrors of war. Bubba enjoyed his job, it was easy, he felt respected, and he got to sleep in a warm bed every night. For 12 hours a day, he watched people sign him and leave with packages.

Under Captain vont Ballard's orders, every package had a unique code. All Bubba had to do was, write the code next to the name. In the evening Miles would pick up his sign-in paper and hand him a new one. Working in the Requisition Warehouse, was a dream come true for him.

Similarly, Miles relished his job. While taking inventory daily was tedious, Miles enjoyed the simplicity. Miles was happy to work for the famous wealthy baronet. With Grace and Sarah handing the souring, requisition, purchase orders, and purchasing; gave Will more time to complete paperwork.

Paperwork was not sexy, but his promotion to captain and Quartermaster meant he was managing just under two hundred soldiers. Will commanded soldiers in at the frontlines, at the command center, and in Guidon. Will was buried in paperwork up to his neck.

Will's first action as captain was to lower the procurement cost. Will easily achieved this by hiring his Silver Phoenix company to purchase bulk goods at wholesale prices.

Will knew this was corruption. If this was Earth, he would be arrested. But this was Terra, corruption was rampant. Even hiring his company as the middleman still didn't register as bad, because he was saving the kingdom money!

For three months money flowed into his coffers. Yet, this new revenue was not enough to cover the losses from his other business. Will's cafes were almost barren. He could he'd file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States.

The casino and general stores were barely treading water. Revenue was down 40% year to date.

In fairness, a year ago was also when his company's profit skyrocketed. After the auction, all of Will's properties turned into gold mines.

'What a difference a year makes,' Will thought.

With the country's recession, his company's lost hundreds of dollars. Anne and Mei wrote daily about unhappy nonvoting shareholders. After the auction, Will began paying the shareholders monthly dividends. When times were good, those dividends made their pockets fat. Now, those dividends were a fraction of what they were nine months ago.

'Beware the fickle masses,' Will reminded himself.

Will continued his daily schedule of Tai Chi in the morning, and practicing spells, and meditating at night. Every month, Will would get a package from Elder Thaddeus with Aether-rich herbs and pills.

Every night when Will meditated, he visited his mana pool within the porous cave. He could feel the mana leave the pool and travel through the cavern holes. Somehow he knew this was how his mana was able to travel through his body.

In addition to meditating Will also practiced his new spells: [Tectonic] and [Arrowhead].

[Tectonic] was a movement spell. The spell created a wave of earth that Will could use as transportation. Now instead of walking, Will used [Tectonic]. To Will, the spell felt like standing still on a moving walkway or escalator.

People gawked as Will moved the earth under him. For magicless people, Will's method of transportation was awe-inspiring. Will would ride the moving earth, with his hand clasps behind his back, looking very stately.

The second spell [Arrowhead] allowed Will to compress earth or metal and shoot it like a bullet from a gun. In nine months, Will's aim was now deadeye. This spell finally gave Will the range capabilities he lacked. Besides [Meteor], Will did not have any ranged spells.

As a Spellswordman, Will was trained to fight in close combat. In his last mage duels, he was forced to thrown [Iron Lances]. If he had this spell ahead of time, he could have sent small arrowhead projectiles at his opponents. Honestly, it would have been much easier to win his matches with this spell alone.

Although, the spell [Arrowhead] had some drawbacks. First, the arrowhead shot at such high speed it could easily go through a tree and three trees other trees before stopping. The second, when the arrowhead hit an object it burst into shrapnel. Will was both amazed and uncomfortable at the damage it could do.

In the past nine months, Will's management stat improved the most. However, his stats in swordsmanship and terramancing had also improved slightly.

Race: Human

Rank: 1 (Baronet)/ Lord of Games/ Gaia's Champion

Class: Merchant

Sub Class: Spellsword

Attributes:

Constitution—50

Strength—52

Dexterity—47

Intellect—66

Charisma—15

Ranks Skills: Management (50+3), Diplomacy (35), Accounting (52)

Class Skills: Appraisal (15, 100), [Radar]

Abilities: Journeyman Swordsmanship (3+1, 50), Journeyman Terramancer (3+1, 50), Gaia's Blessing (multiplies your spell strength x2), Apprentice Blacksmith (20, 25).

On this particular cool autumn day, Will saw the leaves cascading down. The leaves raced to the ground one after the other. Will opened his office window to enjoy the breezes.

Suddenly, Miles rushed in with a look of shock on his face.

"Captain! The Albanians attacked our last two caravans of supplies. The troops on the front will starve if we don't resupply them," Miles reported.

"Miles, close the warehouse. Bring Grace, Sarah, and Bubba over here," Will said calmly.

While Will was calm, he knew the seriousness of this problem. Supply lines were the tail of the tiger. By cutting off supply lines, the Albanians could wait while the Fermion army lose morale and weakens.

On Earth, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan both cut their enemies' supply lines. Those genius strategists would stall until their enemy was the most vulnerable.

Ultimately, this was Will's fault. The caravans were unprotected. For some stupid reason, Will felt the supply line was safe behind the frontlines.

He knew the caravans going to the front were a soft target, yet for a year none of the caravans were attacked. The Albanian's must-have borrowed, Prince Roland and Colonel vont Smith's guerrilla warfare tactic.

Will walked to the Infantry commander, stationed in Central Command. Major vont Valdez was now the ranking officer at Central Command. The other infantry commanders were in the field.

"Come in Captain," Major vont Valdez said, welcoming Will into his new office on the second floor.

"Long way from the basement," Will joked

"Yes, we all must pay our dues one way or another. What can I do for you? I hope this is not about the Quartermaster position, I have no authority in that command anymore" the major said.

"Major vont Valdez, I need infantry soldiers to protect the caravans to the frontlines," Will said.

"I'm sorry Will, all the infantry soldiers, not on rest, are needed for protection. I don't have a solider to spare," Major vont Valdez said.

"Thank you, Major," Will saluted and left.

When Will arrived at his office, Grace, Sarah, and Bubba were standing outside his door with Miles.

"Come in," Will said, walking in first.

The small office was cramped with the five of them.

"I'm sure Miles told you why I asked you here. Are there any suggestions?" Will asked eyeing Bubba.

"I'm the only here that's been to the frontlines, I know the Albanians. I think they have a small squad of soldiers stationed in this area. At least this is where I would attack," Bubba said.

"Why," Will was curious.

"It's a four-day journey to the front lines. If they attack too close to our base or the front lines they might be exposed. The best I can think, is they are hiding here a two-day journey from the base," Bubba said confidently.

"How large is their squad," WIll asked him.

"I don't know for sure. I suspect they probably have one mage, one healer, and two to five soldiers. They want to travel light, so no more than ten people no less than five," Bubba said rubbing his chin.

"Grace, Sarah, any ideas?" Will asked.

"How many soldiers, did you get from the major?" Sarah asked.

"None," Will replied.

"None?" Bubba and Grace said simultaneously.

"Yes," Will said.

"Well, you're fucked then," Bubba said.

"As Albanian mage isn't a master ranked magician we should be fine. For my plan to work, we need two soldiers and a healer," Will said.

"You want us to go with you?" Bubba looked terrified.

"Yes, we need a veteran like you as our guide. Besides Sarah and Grace are also third-year cadets at the Knight Academy. Surely, you're you know I'm a spellsword.

That's four people right there, I'm confident with seven people we can win. Of course, the more the merrier. Miles find me two more soldiers and a healer. Grace and Sarah, I want you to organize a double caravan" Will said.

"Will, won't that leave us exposed. There is no way ten people can guard 40 wagons?" Grace said in disbelief.

"Trust you, Captain," Bubba said unsurely.

"Follow the instructions are this note, we'll leave tomorrow at 7th bell. We'll meet at the flag pole. Dismissed," Will said.