V2Ch89-New Management
“It is our honor to meet Your Holiness, of course,” said the Mayor, kneeling and pressing his forehead into the sand.
The other members of his family followed suit a moment later, his wife, sons, and daughter all kowtowing before the necromancer as Tybalt sat on one of the Mayor’s own chairs outside the Mayor’s house.
“If we had known you were coming, we would have prepared a suitable welcome for you, of course,” the Mayor added without raising his head. “How may we be of service?”
The intimidating presence of twenty armed beastmen all around them seemed to have instilled a proper attitude, as Tybalt saw it.
Either that, or this man is just a natural at groveling.
“Your town has valuable resources for the Grand Beastfolk Army,” the necromancer replied. “We’ll naturally be seizing them.”
“Of course, Your Holiness,” the man said. “My apologies that we do not have more for you. The Army only recently came and collected taxes. We’ll work tirelessly to remove anything we own for your use. I beg only that you leave the people of the town in as good of a condition as you found them, yes? We surrendered without a fight.”
The Army showed up early for tax season, sounds like. But that detail was unimportant.
“Two of my men are dead,” Tybalt said.
“... with barely a fight,” the Mayor replied. “And more than a dozen of our people are dead… that I know of! Surely, given the grand scope of your army, this loss is hardly significant for you. We will more than- ”
“Your population is also a valuable resource. When we burn the town, we’ll be taking them as well.”
“I - what? Um, did I hear you correctly, Your Holiness?”
The frightened former ruler of the town finally dared raise his eyes to look up at Tybalt’s. The necromancer had his head tilted to the side as he gazed down at the Mayor. The gaze that Tybalt directed to the man was cold and pitiless.
“Unless you’re hard of hearing, I’m confident you heard and understood.”
“You… mean to burn the town? If you instead fold it into the territory under your control, and leave the people here, in the homes they know, you will find us most loyal subjects, I assure you. Much more profitable and productive than- ”
“As loyal as you’re being to the King who appointed you right now? The removal of the population and the destruction of the town are not negotiable. I need more bodies to fight my enemies, and your people will have the choice of accompanying me dead or alive. There will be nothing for them here once we burn the town anyway. And that is a strategic necessity.”
“Yes, Your Holiness. My family and I will support you in any way we can, of course. What… good fortune that our home would be liberated from the King’s yoke by the High Priest of Death.”
“Indeed.” He gestured to the Mayor, and three beastmen seized him by the arms.
“W-Wait! What’s going on?” the man asked, obviously frightened. A dark stain began to spread across the front of his trousers.
“Nothing bad,” Tybalt said calmly. “I’m just going to take you up on your offer. You and your family will provide us with all the support you can. You personally are going to convey to everyone who matters in this place - the craftsmen, the merchants, the madams of the brothels - that they must be ready to move out in the morning. Gather outside the town’s walls. Everything and everyone who remains in this settlement will burn at that time. Understood?”
“Y-Yes, Your Holiness. And my f-family?”
“Will remain here under my protection, as you will have three soldiers for yours. We don’t want them getting hurt in case anyone gets funny ideas about putting up some last minute heroic resistance, right?”
The Mayor swallowed hard. “Of course.”
“Good.” Tybalt turned to Igor. “Find a comfortable place to keep the Mayor’s family, and I want four of you guarding them, from at least three different tribes. These people are not to be touched, and- ”
“Is m-my home not a sufficient space?” the Mayor interjected.
The necromancer directed a withering gaze at him, and the man instantly clammed up.
“You have kindly offered me the use of anything and everything you own,” Tybalt reminded him. “I’ve decided to take you up on your offer. My closest companions and I will be taking advantage of your hospitality and staying in your home for the night. There will be no room for others. Even though you have the largest house in town… my companions and I need privacy.”
“R-Right, my apologies.”
“You may take him now.”
As the beastmen began guiding the Mayor away, Victoria and Dero appeared at the edge of the Mayor’s property. It was a testament to how much he trusted the dark elf’s fighting skills and vigilance that Tybalt hadn’t insisted that the pair bring guards with them.
As they approached, the necromancer saw Victoria looked vexed, while Dero wore a slightly amused smile.
“The rest of you, go about your jobs or relax,” Tybalt said. “I’m going to explore my new temporary home with my fiancee and our friend.”
The other beastfolk started moving again, Igor and a few others taking the Mayor’s family while the rest of them simply shuffled off, leaving Tybalt and the two women alone.
“D-Darling, it’s good to see you’re still unhurt,” Victoria said, stumbling over that first word - a word that her twin sister used all the time - the version of “darling” that connoted a spousal relationship. Tybalt’s expression shifted instantly into a relaxed smile.
He rose and took her hand, and the foxgirl blushed cutely.
“How are you doing, Vicky?” he asked in a softer tone. “How are things around the town? Are the men following orders?”
“We saw to setting up medical stations,” Victoria said. “That’s gone well. Um, the men are looting, but I know that’s according to your orders. And it hasn’t been violent. There is one thing that was bothering me.”
“What’s that?” Tybalt asked.
“They’re acting like men,” Dero replied with a chortle. “Like literally all men, across space and time.”
Victoria turned a glare on her that shut the dark elf up for a moment.
“They’re… I know you told them to seize the movable wealth from the merchants in town, but did you know they’re spending some of it on…?”
“Patronizing the world’s oldest profession,” Dero finished, quietly chuckling.
“I did,” Tybalt confirmed. “I don’t have a problem with it.”
“You don’t have a problem… with that debauchery?” Victoria asked in a tone of disbelief. “Our virtuous troops lying with women of ill repute? Women who might bring disease into your army?”
“Camp followers aren’t a bad thing,” Tybalt said.
They’re the whole reason this is one of the only two towns in this desert that I didn’t attack with disease.
“With your sexual culture, some of these guys are losing their maidenhood,” Dero said, smirking.
“It’s not called maidenhood if they’re- ” Victoria began, but Tybalt shook his head.
Dero’s fucking with you. She does that. She knows that men aren’t maidens.
“It’s good for morale,” Tybalt said. “It keeps them from… Well, it hopefully makes it less likely they’ll act like Kingdom soldiers when we capture another village or town.”
“And I’m sure their future wives will love that,” Victoria said hotly. “‘Yes, I slept with a few whores, so I wouldn’t feel tempted to rape anyone!’ That’s not a great excuse. Men aren’t animals… and that’s not even considering the ones who are already married!”
“For the ones who aren’t married, a little experience before the big night is better, right?” said Dero.
“Absolutely disgusting!” the foxgirl said, her expression twisting.
“The women of this town have a reputation for being free of disease, with high standards of hygiene,” Tybalt said. “I’m not going to tell the troops they have to keep it in their pants. Plenty of them are going to die on this journey. I’m not going to order them to die virgins if they don’t want to.”
Victoria gave him a pleading look. “The married men, though?”
“You can go and tell the priesthood to spread the word that I said infidelity is bad,” he finally said. “I’m not going to punish it, but they can think of it as against my will and Lord Mudo’s will, if that makes a difference.”
She bowed her head with a smile. “Thank you, future husband. You’re as wise and virtuous as you are strong.”
“And you’re as bad as your sister when it comes to twisting me around your little finger.”
Victoria blushed again, then turned to go.
“I’ll keep following Vicky in case any of the men throw things at her,” Dero said, likewise moving to leave. “I doubt they’ll be happy with your divine revelation this time.”
As the two women walked off, Mariella stepped into view, accompanied by a handful of beastmen. She spoke a few words, and they dispersed. Then she walked the rest of the way to Tybalt alone. He saw that she had blood on her clothing but no visible wounds. Most of the blood was on her sleeves and shoulders, a little of it spattered on her collar.
That’s not her blood, he guessed.
“I take it that you met with some resistance?” Tybalt said.
“More meat for your undead army, now,” she replied, forcing a smile. “We’ve doused all the outlying buildings in town with accelerant, so that my fire will spread more easily in the morning. Some men didn’t like that. Some men also didn’t like giving up their worldly goods. There have been a few more deaths than we might have liked. But most saw sense.”
He rose and pulled her into an embrace, and he felt some of the tension go out of her body.
“We’re making a new order,” he whispered. “There will be some people who get crushed beneath the wheels. Thank you for doing some of this work. I know it’s hard for you in particular.”
The fire mage nodded and kissed him on the cheek. “I get it. I don’t like it, but I signed up for work like this when I enlisted in the Army in the first place. At least now I know what we’re doing, what we’re really fighting for. And the men… they aren’t abusing their positions. They haven’t been beating up civilians or destroying property unnecessarily.”
“That’s good,” Tybalt replied. His hand drifted to Mariella’s lower back. She pulled slightly away, looked around to see if anyone was watching, then leaned into him again.
“Where are we staying tonight?” she asked softly.
“The house behind me.”
“Show me around?”
“I’d love to.”
The couple clasped hands and walked into the commandeered home together, the challenges of controlling an occupied town momentarily forgotten.
***
A few hours later, after dessert and dinner, Tybalt and Mariella slept in each other’s arms.
As the necromancer slept, he dreamed. He had grown used to his dreams being other than natural, ever since he met Vidalia in person.
Tonight was no exception.
Vidalia visited Tybalt again, took his hand, and wordlessly at first, they began exploring the new possibilities for the future battle with the Kingdom.
This time, when they revisited the scene where Tybalt and the Kingdom’s general were meant to clash, the setting was slightly different. Instead of fighting out in the sand, the necromancer and his army hunkered down behind the walls of Fort Hadrian.
Implying that we could successfully take it, good, that was something I wasn’t completely sure about, even with all our preparation.
The undead and beastfolk army had swelled their ranks with a substantial number of human allies and additional undead in the vision, and Tybalt saw that they now had far more on their side than the Royal Army’s force.
Still, vision Tybalt was cautious and kept them within the fortification at first, raining down arrows and stones from the top of Fort Hadrian’s walls, with Edgard occasionally sucking a handful of soldiers underground near the entrance.
As the tide of battle became clear in Tybalt’s favor, the vision shifted.
He frowned. This time, the Army showed up with siege weaponry.
The General definitely knows our strategy this time. That confirms he’s doing one of two things…
In this version of the battle, the Army remained at range and lobbed heavy stones at the wall via catapult. They returned arrow fire with more powerful bows that seemed to have a longer range than the beastfolk weapons - though they mostly failed to hit anything - used battering rams, and threw barrages of mystic blasts from their mages that flew in disciplined, periodic volleys.
The walls held up surprisingly well for a long time, and Tybalt’s forces did a fair amount of damage themselves, with Mariella’s fireballs, the Fort’s own catapults, arrows and sling stones - largely the same tactics they had used before, with the slight difference that some aspects were harder to implement, because the Royal Army kept at a safer distance from the walls.
The vision faded out several times, showing different alternative battles before settling on one. The Army’s force seemed to grow more dangerous each time. They had seemingly failed repeatedly to take the Fort, though Tybalt did not get to see all the details of these failures.
But finally, it seemed the Army’s persistence - or the General’s - began to win out. One of the areas where they had consistently concentrated both catapult shots and mystic blasts was naturally the gate.
Though Tybalt knew that his future self would have ordered the existing thick oak door to be reinforced with stone, timber, and cement, basically sealing the thing shut as best he could, that space was nevertheless a weak spot.
Eventually, under a combination of fire and ice blasts in this latest vision, the gate shattered.