Commander Stone

"Thank you, Bell," I said to her. "It is my honor, Lord Governor," she replied. 

"If you allow me, my lord. I like to stay; I am sure, I will be able to help you in some way," she added. Her request surprised me and opened my mouth to reject her, but I stopped and closed my mouth.

I don't trust her, but I know she will not betray me. 

Keeping her close might be useful. If anyone has any experience with the ruling, then it is her. She might really be able to help me.

I deactivated the Privacy Sphere and turned it to the three.

"Go through the files and make a list of the resources the city has," I ordered. The bastard didn't make the list; he had a skill for that. 

It would have saved me a lot of time, if he had.

The three took out the files and began to work immediately, while I turned to Zela to inquire about things happening in the city and the region.

There is no change; the hordes are still moving steadily; nothing has come to stop them. There is one force that could stop them, but the forces of the dustorn fortress won't move from their place.

At least till became really worse and till now, they hadn't. At least for them.

I wish I had more information about the hordes, specifically about their strength. I only know, there are three hordes, one going toward Port Midlet is bigger, while the other two are going to the Bilgas and Almin.

I don't know the numbers these hordes have and the type of undead they contain. All I could do was guess and try to make as best preparations as I could.

"They have arrived, Lord Governor," said Zela.

"You three, follow me," I said to them. If they were to help me, they needed to be present at every meeting. 

Ina and Lola were a little surprised, but followed me along with Bell.

"It is a very important meeting; I will be asking them to fight against the undead. Do you have any suggestions on convincing them?" I asked Bell in the sphere of privacy.

"You are the Governor of the city; it is their duty to follow you. Be a Governor, don't show any doubts or hesitation. Project confidence in every word, every action, even if you have none in your heart," she replied.

I couldn't help but smile hearing that.

I am following the same thought. It is the reason why I copied the Nobles Grace from her. To make the people believe, I am the Governor and there is no one who could lead them better than me.

Soon, I reached the door of the conference room and took a deep breath, smoothened my expression to impassive, and activated Get Ready.

A second later, I stepped into the room, like I owned it.

Immediately, every eye turned to me, with many having a surprise in their eyes. Even Stone and Colonel Cardin seemed surprised seeing me as I stepped into the conference room.

Valentina looked like she couldn't believe she was seeing the person; she knew.

As they looked at me, I looked at them and my heart couldn't help, but sour up when I saw the army ranks.

'A lot of people had run away,' I thought.

In the city's army of ten thousand, there is one commander, which is Atticus. Below him are two colonels and below them are four lieutenant colonels. Then are the thirty-two captains.

Commander Atticus and his two lieutenants left with the Count.

Three lieutenant colonels escaped, along with the thirteen captains, taking several of their lieutenants and a few hundred soldiers. 

It was that bastard Atticus's doing; he had spread the news of his leaving the moment he left. 

So, in the city's army, the highest-ranked officer is Lieutenant Colonel Bradshaw. A useless man, responsible for the supply and logistics.

He is not even capable of being a captain and the only reason he has this job is because his uncle is Kannan Bradshaw, commander of Count's forces in his territory.

It is not just the people of the city's army who had left, but also the one that Colonel Cardin had brought. One of his deputies has escaped, as well as a few captains.

The force that Dane had sent had inexperienced soldiers and its officers were useless ones, or the ones that Dane didn't like. I hope the ones who had escaped are the useless ones.

The same thing had happened with the mage guild; of all thirteen core members, only one had remained.

He is one of two vice-guild masters. It is quite surprising; he stayed when all those above and below him escaped without hesitation.

As for the priests of the god of war, all of them have escaped. Not even an acolyte had remained.

Not everything is bad news, there is one good news. 

Over 60% of mercenaries have remained. It would surprise anyone. People compared them to rats on the ship. First to abandon, when it sinks.

They would have left if it had been a regular enemy like Tabes or even Navr, but these are the undead of Vris'alud. Some of them have fought on the Mayhurst island and some even have members from the island.

They are aware of how they operate and thus waiting for me. They will leave if I don't provide them with a good enough answer.

"Lord Governor," they greeted.

I walked toward the table without saying anything, before stopping at the head seat.

"Sit down, everyone," I said and sat down. I paused for a second, before opening my mouth to speak again.

"The undead had attacked the region with the massive force. They already conquered Ashton Harbor and sent their forces to the Port Midlet, Almin, and Bilgas,"

"According to the information we have. We know that Almin and Bilgas will have a hard time defending against the undead, and once they are done with it, they will come at us." 

Nobody is surprised by the information. All of them are resourceful. Gaining such information isn't hard for them.

I didn't say anything further and just looked at them and finally, after several seconds, someone opened their mouth to ask the question.

"What is your plan, Lord Governor?" asked a thin man with a long scar running down from his cheek.

The Ruses Vandal, captain of vandal mercenaries. The strongest mercenary group in the city, now that leaders of the first two escaped with Count.

"Fight, of course, Captain Vandal. We will try to negotiate first, but even with the legacy, we do not have enough leverage to negotiate with them." I replied, without the slightest change in my expression.

However, a big change appeared on their faces.

"They will slaughter us," said Portmaster Black. 

I was quite surprised, to see the man here. He wasn't present at the meeting earlier and I thought he had escaped, but he clearly didn't.

"They would, but it is a lot better than surrendering and letting them turn us into undead," I replied.

"It is easy for you to say, Lord Governor, since you are the only person whom they wouldn't kill," said a muscled man, with a tattooed bald head.

Hearing that, I finally let my expression change and brought a grin to my face.

"You are right, Captain Mass. I am the only person in the whole city they won't kill, but that changes nothing. If you decide to stay, you will fight, because I will not surrender the city!" I said, raising my voice at the last sentence.

"What if we want to leave?" asked Ruses Vandal. 

"The gates of the city will be open at eight; those who want to leave will be free to leave," I replied straightforwardly, repeating the same words I spoke in an earlier meeting.

Nobody spoke for more than a more than a minute. They just looked at me and I met their eyes.

"Who will be leading us, if we are to fight?" came the most important question; it came from the people, who are responsible for defending the city. Whose leader had abandoned them.

The eyes in the entire room moved upon hearing Captain Azalea's question.

Most heads turned toward Colonel Cardin, who is the highest-ranking member of the army in the room. Some turned toward Lieutenant Colonel Bradshaw, who seemed to want to disappear.

The only reason this useless man hadn't escaped, was because everyone knew how useless he was and weren't willing to take the deadweight with them.

"Thaddeus Stone will be the new commander of the city's forces," I replied, surprising all, including Stone himself, but I could see the relief appearing in the eyes of Captain Azalea and many others.

Stone is the best choice to lead, not only because he has years of experience in fighting against the undead, but also because he is the choice most would accept.

Colonel Cardin is the highest-ranking officer and the only person above Level 30, but he couldn't fight because of the injuries. 

A leader doesn't need to fight, they can direct and many of the world's best military leaders are strategists who didn't enter the battlefield personally, but he won't be acceptable to all.

I chose Stone because he is one, they will accept. Many, like Captain Azalea and Julian, had fought alongside him. They are the most powerful and influential among all the captains, and others will follow their lead.

The mercenaries will accept him because he is one of them and also powerful enough to beat any of them.

I looked at Stone and felt relieved, seeing that he wasn't rejecting the responsibility. If he had, then all would have gone down the drain.

It might not seem like it, but I am doing a delicate dance here in managing all parties. I would need the support of all of them, to create an army, that might force the undead to negotiate and fight if they didn't.

I turned to the mercenaries and other independent powerhouses.

"I want one single army to fight the undead. You all will be assimilated into it. Those who do not agree with it are free to leave the city," I said and watched with the bated breath.

Seconds passed and no objection came. Mercenaries reject such orders; they become mercenaries to be independent, but here they didn't have a choice.

If they run away, there is a good chance, they will be hunted by the undead and they didn't want that.

"Commander Stone, you can start," I said, handling the meeting to him. "Thank you for your trust, Lord Governor," he said, before turning to the people.