Chapter 53: Seventy-Two Hours [ 1 ]
Chapter 38 — Seventy-Two Hours
"We have seventy-two hours. We’re turning this entire town into a fortress."
Raymond’s final words hung over the crowded administrative hall for several seconds, but unlike the frightened silence that had filled the room when the scale of the approaching Beast Tide was first revealed, nobody remained frozen for long.
Boris immediately pulled the regional map closer and began discussing the northern approaches with Jonathan, while Darric moved toward the group of hunters and former village guards gathered near the opposite end of the table.
Marianne started sorting the growing list of civilian households according to age and physical condition, Lily rapidly copied orders onto separate sheets of parchment for runners to distribute, and the carpenters leaned over the crude town map arguing about which abandoned structures could be dismantled fastest for timber.
Raymond stood in the center of all of it, his gaze moving from one group to another as the room transformed from a war council into an improvised command center.
There wasn’t enough time for fear, and there certainly wasn’t enough time for people to stand around waiting for Raymond to personally tell them where to place every nail.
If Althoff was going to survive thousands of Magic Beasts, then everyone needed to know exactly what they were responsible for before the first trench was dug.
Raymond reached forward and dragged the town map into the center of the table, flattening one curled corner with his palm. "We’re not defending the entire territory. Forget the basin, forget the northern roads, and forget every empty piece of wasteland outside the settlement. If a herd wants to trample snow five kilometers away, let it. What matters is this."
His finger traced the outer wall surrounding the main settlement, then moved inward toward the castle hill. "We defend the people, the food, the water source, the livestock, and the routes connecting them. Everything else can be rebuilt."
Boris studied the map carefully while Raymond continued, his voice calm but firm. "The outer defenses aren’t supposed to stop the tide. They’re supposed to slow it, break its momentum, and force the beasts into positions we choose. The wall becomes the first proper defensive line. If the wall fails, we don’t panic. We fall back into prepared streets. If the streets fail, we retreat toward the upper settlement and castle grounds. I want every layer designed under the assumption that the one before it will eventually collapse."
Boris nodded slowly, clearly approving of the logic. "That means we need to control where they enter instead of trying to seal every possible opening. The northern approach is the widest, but the eastern slope is too rocky for the largest beasts to cross quickly. We can leave most of the east under observation and concentrate the heavy defenses here and here."
He placed two fingers over the northwestern and central northern stretches of wall. "If we dig trenches across the flat ground and place stakes behind them, anything charging at full speed will either slow down or funnel toward the gate road."
Jonathan moved one wooden marker several inches west and added in his deep, measured voice, "Do not make the trench continuous. Leave two deliberate gaps wide enough for large beasts to believe they have found easier passage. Those gaps become kill corridors. Archers fire from elevated positions while Bronze Knights hold the narrow exits. If the beasts crowd themselves together, their numbers become a disadvantage."
Raymond’s eyes immediately sharpened. "Good. Do exactly that. Two false openings on the northern perimeter, but I want the routes behind them empty of civilians and anything flammable we care about. Build secondary barricades farther inside so we can close the corridors once enough creatures enter."
He then turned toward the carpenters, who were already whispering among themselves. "How quickly can you build elevated shooting platforms?"
Torren, the carpenter from Marden, rubbed one hand through his beard before looking down at the map. "If you want proper towers, not quickly enough. If you only need stable platforms high enough to put hunters above the first line, we can have several ready by tomorrow night. We dismantle the old storage sheds near the southern wall, reuse the beams, and brace the platforms against existing stone where possible."
"That’s all I need," Raymond replied. "Nothing pretty. If it stands for three days and doesn’t collapse under a hunter, it’s perfect. After winter, I’ll personally apologize to architecture."
Several people around the table gave nervous laughs, and Raymond allowed it. He wasn’t trying to turn the room into a funeral hall. Fear was already present; adding dramatic speeches about glorious death would only make everyone worse.
He waited until the brief tension eased before looking toward Boris again. "The civilians need assignments before sunset. I don’t want two thousand people running around carrying whatever looks useful. Every able-bodied adult gets placed into one of six groups: construction, transport, medical support, food and water, fire control, or reserve labor. Anyone with combat experience gets assessed separately by Boris and Darric. Hunters become scouts and archers. Nobody joins the front line because they think holding a spear looks heroic."
Darric nodded from across the table. "I can have the former village guards and hunters sorted before evening. There are more combat-capable refugees than we had when Marden arrived. Some of the Greymill men fought off wolves during their evacuation, and several from Darlow used to patrol the caravan road."
"Good. Don’t turn them into soldiers overnight," Raymond warned. "Give them jobs they can actually perform. A man who’s shot rabbits his whole life can fire from a platform. That doesn’t mean he knows how to hold formation against a charging Silver-class beast."
Boris gave a rough grunt of agreement. "I’ll keep the proper guard line separate and use the volunteers as support. Darric can command them once I’ve divided them into sections."
Raymond nodded and finally turned toward Marianne and Lily. "Children, elderly people, anyone seriously injured, and anyone physically incapable of emergency work goes into the castle-side shelters first. Not when the beasts appear. Today. I don’t want families trying to move across the town during an attack because somebody thought there was still time."
Marianne immediately began checking her household lists while Raymond continued. "Pregnant women go with them. Keep at least two medical workers in every major shelter, and prepare the large eastern servant hall as the primary treatment station. Move beds, clean cloth, boiled water, herbs, anything useful. If we have spare doors, use them as stretchers. I don’t care how ugly it looks."
Marianne nodded without hesitation. "I’ll begin moving the vulnerable households this afternoon. The western communal longhouse can hold the overflow if the castle rooms fill."
"Good. Lily, set up two food distribution stations inside the secondary defensive line and one near the castle. Hot food needs to keep moving even if the northern quarter becomes inaccessible."
Lily, who had been writing so quickly that a small ink stain now marked the side of her hand, looked up seriously. "What about the main kitchen?"
"Keep it operating, but don’t depend on it. If one building catches fire, I don’t want the entire town suddenly discovering that dinner was part of the defensive plan."
Lily nodded and returned to her notes.
The meeting continued for another half hour until the first wave of written orders had been dispatched, after which Raymond finally dealt with the one resource nobody else in the room knew he possessed.
He dismissed everyone except Boris, Jonathan, Garret, Tristan, and the other active Silver Knights, then waited until the heavy door closed behind the last civilian.
Boris immediately noticed the change in Raymond’s expression and folded his arms. "You’re holding something back."
Raymond looked at him. "Forty something, technically."
Boris frowned.