Chapter 303 New Hierarchy -3
Chapter 303 New Hierarchy -3
A week had passed since the official founding of the Red Union, Jiha's faction.
Midday, at the command headquarters training grounds.
Jiha sat alone in the stands, observing two thousand soldiers drilling below.
Five instructors led them, Asira Hellrunner among them.
Initially, Asira had shouldered the burden alone, but Waris's standing army now exceeded ten thousand.
She had selected promising assistants and was training them in turn.
Nurturing instructors while simultaneously drilling the rank and file.
Asira managed the dual task without visible strain.
It was a striking sight—soldiers of every race and both sexes mixed together indiscriminately. Orcs, dwarves, beastmen, and humans all training side by side.
A single command from Jiha could now mobilize ten thousand troops.
Their progress became starkly evident by the day under the direct tutelage of Asira, who possessed over a century of experience in local conflicts alone.
"......."
Yet Jiha could not afford satisfaction, no matter how great the accomplishment.
Ten thousand soldiers could not contend with Blue or Purple in a direct confrontation.
"We did manage to occupy Leticia's targets, but......."
The elves and dark elves moved in accordance with their Uniques' commands, successfully subduing the cities and territories around Waris.
Recruitment efforts continued in other regions as well. Current total forces were projected at thirty thousand—and expected to swell to sixty thousand in time.
The populace had responded with fervor to the Red Union's emergence.
The concept of a standing army, an unfamiliar notion in Warsland, piqued widespread curiosity.
Feed, house, and pay anyone who enlists as a soldier, regardless of grade?
Those facing bleak futures, along with those harboring ambitions of status, threw themselves into the ranks.
'The results have surpassed expectations, but...'
Jiha was calculating the next steps when Asira granted the troops a rest period and approached the stands.
He shook his head as she strode up with her usual confidence.
"I wasn't planning to interrupt. Go finish what you were doing."
"Training requires rest too, you know. May I sit?"
"The soldiers are watching."
In terms of the ROK Army, Jiha was the post commander, and the sweating recruits below were fresh privates who had just entered boot camp.
He had deliberately observed from a distance to avoid placing undue pressure on them. Asira coming over ruined that.
"They all recognized you some time ago. Their movements change the moment you appear."
"Fair enough."
Jiha had revealed himself and given a speech before hundreds of thousands in Waris.
Thousands of new recruits had volunteered for the Red Union, moved by that address.
The mere glimpse of a shadow was enough for new soldiers to recognize him and spread word of his presence.
Seated beside him, Asira asked cautiously,
"You've been visiting the training grounds frequently lately... Has a troop mobilization become necessary?"
Over the past week, Jiha had spent his days so frantically busy he'd scarcely had time to close his eyes, yet he always made a point of confirming training progress.
Asira had initially assumed he was merely inspecting the troops, but she had since sensed it went deeper than that.
"Asira, do you think you could maintain control if you led those soldiers into the field?"
"Hm? Well, they are still raw recruits who haven't experienced real combat......."
Jiha shook his head.
"You may have battlefield experience, but your allies back then were demons who acknowledged you as their Unique and followed your lead."
"......."
When Asira waged war as a Unique of Blue Seal, her subordinates were demons who took her Unique status and her standing above them as a given.
By contrast, the soldiers training now had never experienced war as soldiers, and they were a mixed force composed of various races in equal measure.
On top of that, this was an army newly raised with money—raw recruits whipped into shape, not quite a mob, but rife with unpredictable variables.
"If you march them out to fight, do you think they wouldn't mutiny?"
"......."
Meaning: could she prevent insubordination? Asira considered the question briefly, then nodded.
"In my experience, armies are swayed by momentum. If ten men speak and act with fervor, a hundred will follow. The key is keeping a close eye on a thousand, identifying those with the aptitude to become one of those ten, and ensuring they never harbor such thoughts to begin with. Should the need arise, punish or behead one or two of the ten, state the reasons publicly, and discipline will be restored."
"Good."
Her answer came without hesitation. Jiha nodded.
"Take three thousand and head to Woodlock. You'll find dark elf forces stationed there. Bring them under your command, absorb them, and respond based on your own judgment if Blue Seal attacks."
"Wait. Isn't that a place Enril occupied with the dark elves? If I show up belatedly and do that......."
Enril, a dark elf, had earned the credit. Wouldn't sending Asira, a demon, to reap the rewards look like theft?
And would dark elves who had bled and sweated to capture a city suddenly follow Asira simply because she appeared?
"Enril is currently en route back to Waris with a contingent of troops. Woodlock cannot be left without a Unique presence. And furthermore......."
Jiha spoke with finality.
"The Red Union does not discriminate by race. Regardless of species, whoever earns merit will be rewarded, whoever commits an offense will be punished."
"...And so you want me to serve as an example, taking three thousand troops to absorb the dark elf forces? But this will provoke major backlash—not just from Enril, but from all the dark elves. The dark elves are a coalition of clans. They could secede."
"Soon enough, no one will have the luxury of squabbling over species, and I intend to ensure that's the case."
Jiha spoke evenly.
"Blue and Purple have now received word of our uprising. They will move. Any grievances or no, fold them under your command. This is my order—a military order. Punish any who resist in accordance with military law."
"......."
Resolution settled onto Asira's face.
She had led armies before and did not quibble over military orders.
"Understood. I will carry out the order."
"Depart by the end of the day."
Jiha spoke and rose from his seat.
Asira's hand reflexively caught his.
"Why?"
"Ah, th-that is......."
Gazing up at him with a forlorn, subdued expression, the beautiful demon with her pale blue skin managed a weak smile a moment later.
"No. It's nothing. I simply......."
"Asira."
Having guessed her true feelings, Jiha spoke lightly.
"Woodlock is the front line against Blue Seal. It's a strategic point we absolutely cannot afford to lose. Once I settle matters here in Waris, I will come in person. So absorb those dark elf forces and hold the position well."
"Mm......."
Asira's expression softened somewhat, and Jiha leaned down to whisper into her ear.
"If you do a good job, I'll come and dote on you."
"......."
Asira's face flared bright red. She only nodded meekly.
Jiha laughed quietly at the endearing reaction of the knight who had been left flustered by having her thoughts exposed, then turned away.
Returning to his office, he found Lijin waiting.
"I have been waiting, Chief."
Chief of the Red Union—Jiha's official title.
Lijin served as his secretary, handling various administrative tasks, but she appeared to have a specific purpose this time.
"Is there something to report?"
"A messenger dove arrived."
"That isn't your responsibility, is it?"
At Jiha's question, Lijin wore a troubled expression.
Amid the documents stacked on the desk—neatly arranged, yet heaped like a mountain—sat a letter stamped with a seal.
An elven crest. Jiha's brow furrowed.
"What's this? Has Purple made a move?"
Weren't Leticia and the elves supposed to be occupying and holding Ringard?
Jiha broke the seal, opened the letter, and read its contents.
"...These bastards have lost their minds."
It was the kind of message that would drive even the most patient saint into a rage.
Return march.
The elves were announcing that they were abandoning Ringard—which they had barely managed to occupy—and returning to Waris.
They would leave half their forces behind, but Leticia, a Unique, was coming back with them.
The letter was not even a request for permission. They had dispatched it while already on the move.
"......."
Incredulous, Jiha stared up at the ceiling.
Had Leticia lost her mind? Under military law, this was grounds for execution without argument.
This was the sort of incident that could bring everything the Red Union had labored to build crashing down.
"...Hoo."
A Unique served as a war deterrent by her mere presence.
An enemy would think twice before mobilizing an army against a strongpoint defended by a Unique.
'Damage control first. I have to send a Unique before Purple learns that Leticia pulled out on her own volition.......'
It had to be someone who could hold the front line.
Asira was the finest general available to Jiha.
But she was needed right now on the front facing Blue Seal. When also factoring in the task of absorbing the dark elves, there was no one more suited than her.
'Gashiel and Barjet won't do. I still can't trust either of them.......'
This was an absurdly sudden crisis.
He had known that fighting in the east while getting trolled in the west would be unmanageable.
And now the elves were throwing the game from the very start.
"What good is scoring kills in top lane? Our jungler went home, and bot lane's gone rogue."
Even as Jiha grumbled, he was already running through contingency plans.
Using the process of elimination, that left only Pairan.
'No. Pairan and Yura. Right.'
Yura, who had grown up with Asira like family, and Pairan, who had been her adjutant, had a long-standing friendship and even went shopping together.
The gentle Yura and the forthright Pairan seemed to get along unexpectedly well.
Sending both at once would force Purple to hesitate before making any rash moves.
Pairan had disclosed all her intelligence and could no longer return to Purple, but attaching Yura to her served as insurance against any lingering uncertainty.
'Four thousand troops for the two of them. No, that might be too many.......'
He had settled on the personnel. The key question was how many troops to allocate.
They had to depart by the end of the day. Still calculating, Jiha addressed the bowing Lijin.
"Did you know Leticia was going to pull this absurd stunt?"
Leticia and the elves would naturally be punished.
If Lijin had known and failed to report it, that too was a grave offense for which she could not escape punishment.
"...I received a letter myself just now. Leticia sent it separately."
"What does it say?"
"She is prepared to receive severe punishment from you, Chief. She is also frightened."
"......."
Jiha sighed.
The whole picture was clear.
"Those thick-headed elf bastards, really......."
Leticia knew how terrifying Jiha could be. No—even putting that aside, anyone with a functioning brain would have no reason to commit such an irrational act.
Abandon a hard-won city of strategic importance and march back to base without prior communication?
Leticia would know as well as anyone: she had no excuse, even if it cost her her head.
But what was she supposed to do when her subordinates were all insisting on it?
"......."
Leticia was a Unique, yet she was treated with contempt among the elves.
They had followed her orders up through the occupation, but once that was accomplished, other ideas had apparently taken root.
Leticia's fatal flaw was a lack of leadership. The elves under her did as they pleased.
"They're insisting on it, she says......."
Jiha assembled the fragments of the situation.
Enril was also returning to Waris now with the dark elves.
The difference was that she had reported in advance and explained the circumstances first.
Jiha wasn't pleased about it, but he could accept the reasoning. He had time to ready Asira and coordinate a timely rotation.
'The elven bastards heard the dark elves were coming and trolled in a panic... They threw everything aside because they thought they'd lose the initiative.'
Their motives were transparent.
Three forces. Dark elves and elves, newly joined in the Red Union.
Members of opposing camps who had faced each other as enemies for thousands of years were now suddenly sharing a hearth.
And the thought that naturally followed: which of the two would hold the upper hand within this faction?
"Right. You're trying to see if you can tame me."
A Common human had abruptly been named Chief. They must find it laughable.
Both dark elves and elves were thinking along the same lines—install him as a figurehead and seize real control for themselves.
Even when their own Uniques warned them they were courting disaster, they refused to listen.
"Ah, fine."
The dogs acting stupid would learn exactly what kind of master he was.