Greetings

I leaned forward on the giant table, standing atop my chair to get a better view. On it were giant maps, one of the city of Kadesh and the surroundings, and the other of the northern half of the nation.

The man with the bearskin cloak continued, "Right now, we need to teach the kids war and prepare to defend Kashish. If this city falls, it's likely the end. The capital may be more defendable, but this city is debatably harder to take because of the sheer number of troops here and the terrain, not to mention the fortresses scattered around used for guild wars and training."

'Then why isn't this place more defendable… Who designed this? Actually… I probably don't want to know…' I sighed. "The empire has been sowing discontent for a while now. They won't just send an army over the border and march in with force… With that in mind… We should start limiting trade entering and leaving the city, at least from the empire… If I were them, I wouldn't send in an army at all, I'd send in groups little by little over time disguised as merchants, and then when I attacked all the spies would show their colors and stab us in the back…"

Another dead silence, finally one turned to the other. "You reported an influx of trade didn't you?"

"It's true… There have been a lot of people looking to either leave the empire or do business here recently."

I scratched my head. 'Wanting to leave the empire… For this dump… "Yeah, that's a problem. No one would willingly leave the empire to move here if not for extreme cases… It's the other way around. The empire has a lot of things that make life for weaker people easier. Especially areas of our nation struggling like Nayana facing food shortages, people would be moving the other direction, or passing through to the east and south, not settling here."

The third man had been staying quiet, arms crossed, deep in thought. "The empire has fought dirty before… But regardless of where they may be from… Our duty is first as protectors… There must be a way to figure out who is and is not a spy."

"Yeah… Not really…" at least not without magic…' "Despite that… There is no real way of winning, regardless of how we approach this…"

"And what would you know about it? This is your first time even seeing a war table isn't it, and you think you know everything already?"

Another silence.

'I probably went too far with that… This… Isn't actually a game… It's not something I can take lightly… At the very least it's not something they can take lightly… I slowly looked down before narrowing my brow. "It's not a matter of knowing… Or even strategy…" I started picking up pieces that represented enemy troops and began surrounding the city, placing every single one in a massive horde. "We are essentially dealing with an infinite supply of troops here… If faced with enough wolves, even a Hydra will eventually die to them… That's the saying right?"

The largest of the three slowly sat down, rubbing his head. "It still changes nothing…" He muttered in a deep raspy voice. "What would we do then? Run away, retreat until pushed against our southern border, and then fight anyway, still with the same odds… Or surrender? My men would sooner mutiny than lay down their swords. When facing a monster, surrender is the same as death, not just yours, but that of those behind you. This is how we fight… And this is how those you command will fight as well…"

'He almost sounds saddened by that…' I sighed again, pulling at my hair. "There is still one way we can win… In theory…"

I toppled over half the pieces. "If enough wolves die… Chances are they will eventually run away. At some point, the empire will have to decide if it's worth it to continue… In THEORY, that means that if we hold out long enough they will back off and create a stalemate… That's how the last war ended, right?" I looked over the map again. 'Internal threats aside… It's hardly lacking defenses… At least if you look at it broadly… "We have naval superiority, right?" 'even if we don't, the monsters would make it difficult to do anything by sea… So a landing party anywhere is unlikely. "If we are worried about defending the city… Then the ideal… Would never let them even get close to it…"

"And what are you suggesting exactly?"

"How many commanders are in the city… It's more than just you three right?"

"There are six counting you and your brother."

'So they made Airsidh a commander too? He really won't let me get ahead of him…' I dimly smiled. "Ok, that should be enough… Here's what I propose… If they were to march on us, then they would have to go through either this pass, this forest, or along the coast, right? Assuming they even make it through the black gate on the northern border. We should be able to hold the pass with two commanders, building up fortifications. Another two commanders should be able to hold this side of the forest. It's a wider area, but the forest is infested with monsters, so their army would hardly get through it unnoticed and unscathed. As for the coast, we would station lookouts there with the hopes that the enemy wouldn't be able to march right past our capital undeterred. Then I would stay in the city with my brother and handle any internal threat with the help of the Alshadora family. They specialize in investigating criminals anyway, so routing out spies shouldn't be too hard for them, and I happen to be friends with the current head of their estate. If all we are supposed to do is protect the city… This is the best way to do it… If one of the other commanders is attacked, my brother would be able to reinforce their position without sacrificing another part of the wall in case it's a decoy."

"This plan is ridiculous… You came here to LEARN from us, not propose your own ideas… Why would we willingly choose to fight our opponent with a third of the numbers we would have otherwise?"

I paused, looking at him for a moment before letting out another sigh. "It's better to fight a Kraken on land than send triple the men out to sea… I mean… Do I really need to explain this?"

He clenched his fist, nearly about to hit me if not for the tall man grabbing his arm and holding him back. "I'm fine with this plan… It's far more sound than anything either of you have suggested, and even if not then we still have time… There is no war as of yet…"

The commander to his left nodded. "Right… For now, let's just stick with this and move on to what we are supposed to be doing…"

All three started staring at me, making me instinctively take a step back on the chair. "And… That is?"

Kal stepped up to my side. "There is no class for commanders, instead, you will be alternating between spending time around the commanders we have here, learning from them, studying them, and hopefully gaining abilities from them."

"Ok… So… Who's first?"

The giant in bear's fur loosened his muscles and stood tall. "For now let's just start with introductions… This is still the first day… Honestly, we thought it would be a bit much for you to take in, so I don't think any of us prepared much for you… My name is Tabernath, 3rd class commander of 254 strong men and women." He raised his hand and beat it against his chest, saluting me. "Nice to meet you, I've heard good things."

Seeing him salute me took my breath away, taking me back to when I didn't even feel worthy of a random wanna-be adventurer saluting me, yet before I stood a commander of over 200 soldiers, many of them probably nobles, and he was giving me a salute.

'Wait… 3rd class? If he's in charge of so many, I'm assuming that means 3rd is better than first?'

"Siya, This is where you say your name…" My teacher whispered.

"R-right… Sorry about that." I chuckled, awkwardly giving a courtesy while still standing on the chair. "My name is Siyasavide Aliyah Nayanathulu, Third in line of my house and temporary commander. Please, just call me Siya."

The one to my right did the same, saluting me. "My name's a bit long, so just call Al."

I paused again. 'Wait… You're kidding… Could I have just been introducing myself like that this whole time?' "N-nice to meet you…" 'Why does this feel so awkward… Now I feel even more embarrassed about saying my full name…'

Finally, the last one. The burly man, who seemed to not like my ideas very much. "I am Commander Eldrid Elianara." He raised an arm out to me.

'He's… Offering that greeting? Has the meaning changed since he was young? Or…' I looked down at his hand. 'Elianara… As in the guy that screwed over my father in business? I can't accept the greeting… But If he's one of my teachers now I don't want to piss him off either…' "Uhm… Nice to meet you..." I muttered, shaking his hand, instead of grabbing his forearm, leaving him speechless as I quickly turned back to the others and tried to move on. "So. Now that introductions are done, what's first?"

It took a moment of silence, but eventually, Tabernath stepped around the table and offered me a hand down from the chair, which I took. "For today, why don't you follow me if you aren't tired yet."

"Sounds good." I did as he said, leaving the other two still in shock for some reason, trying not to dwell on it. 'Is a handshake really so weird to them? I mean… I couldn't really accept the greeting… But I was too afraid to ask if he knew what it meant… Was that too weird? Whatever…'