Limits - Chapter 411

I walked around the Sludge Factory, I had enough Mordars for one day. This time though, I didn’t encounter any enemies, which I was grateful for. Soon, the walls of Sedon appeared in my view. The walls were being repaired, and looked much better than before. Ama managed to stand up to the challenge. She actually rose much above it. From the looks of it, she was improving the walls at the same time. People at Sedon knew me well by now, so no one made any issues about my entry.

Simple check later, I was inside. At the area where soldiers and warriors trained, I saw the Lizards and Atols sparring together. ‘Atols improved quite a bit, but the Lizards are not bad either. They trained diligently, and it seems this paid off’ I thought. When the Leader of Lizards spotted me, he ordered everyone to stop, and gather around. ‘You don’t have to do that guys…’ I thought.

“It’s fine, you guys can return to training. I see you made great improvements. Sparring with different people is also good, you will learn much more. Great job guys”. The soldiers and warriors exclaimed “YES!”, and returned to their training. Only a few Atols and the Leader of Lizards was left. “Seriously though, you don’t have to act like this with me. By the way, I still don’t know your names. It will be hard to just call you “hey you”. So although this is a bit late, I’d like to know”.

The leader of Lizards replied “I’m called Lerion, and I’m responsible for our forces in Sedon. General Harlin..” I stopped him, and said “You are a good leader, and you care for your soldiers. You deserve this position if not greater”. He nodded, and seemed pleased. I wasn’t trying to please him though, he was a good leader and I just said the truth. I turned to the five Atols, who lead their own groups.

They looked at each other, and introduced themselves one after the other. “I’m called Mani”, “I’m called Olan”, “I’m called Eram”, “I’m called Atal”, “And I’m called Olip”. I nodded while asking, “Great, you guys have your own units right?”. They nodded, while I continued “Does your units specialise in any form of combat or tactics?”. The looked at each other confused. ‘So that’s a no’ I thought. “Look at it this way. If you all charge at the enemy together, why would you need five leaders? If every unit specialised in a specific tactic, then you could utilise your forces better, right?”.

They understood my meaning, and one of them asked. “But which unit should specialise in what?”. I replied, “That will depend on you and your people. For example, two of your units can take more of a “block the enemy” approach. While other unit would specialise in striking from the side. Another can act as a support. There are many tactics the unit can carry out. There are five of you, try to figure something out. You can ask Lerion for some clues and suggestions. Is that alright with you Lerion?”.

He replied, “I have no problem with that. We can help them find the best uses for their units”. The five Atols thought about it, then replied to Lerion. “In that case, we would like to try that”. ‘This is sorted then. They will learn how to strategize and use their units better, while Lerion can learn something too. They should be alright for now’ I thought.

With that taken care of, I asked. “Do you have any news?”. Lerion replied, “Yes we do. Boltier was attacked, and heavily damaged. Although the enemy retreated, they didn’t retreat far. It seems our enemies are finally making a move”.

This wasn’t such a good news. ‘I wonder what they used to attack Voltars? Was it Destroyers, or something else?’ I asked myself. With a slight nod, I said “Be ready, an enemy army might approach Sedon too. What about your supplies?”. He replied, “We are good with supplies for a while. They should last us around two to three months”. ‘Hmmm… Although that seems like a lot, it might not be that much. Boltier was attacked and is damaged. They might not be able to give us supplies anymore’ I thought.

“Do you know where Crow is?” I asked. Lerion and the five Atols shook their heads in reply. They didn’t seem to know. ‘We need a solid plan. Royal Army is out of the question. They will sit there, and keep Arangard safe… At least for now. Sedon is relatively safe, and with new walls, it should last much longer during a battle. Boltier is the problem. Eterians cannot get their hands on it, no matter what’ I thought.

We needed something new. Something that could defeat an army gathered at Boltier, or any city to be exact. ‘I have to speak with Ama, maybe she can figure something out’ I thought, and told the leaders they could leave. Before I went to see Ama though, I checked up on the fields. The herbs sprouted very nicely. The Atols responsible for them already managed to gather some. I asked “How is it going?”. They stopped working and told me about the fields.

They didn’t encounter any problems, although Endrosian herbs were taking quite a long time to grow properly. My reply was simple, “Just give them time. As long as they grow here, we are good. Take special care of Blood Yarns and Night Safises. We will need them a lot”. They nodded, and were about to return to work, but I stopped them. “Before you go. I promised to teach you some stuff guys. I will do that when I deal with a few other things. Then you can start making medicine for the city”. Their mood lifted up a bit. ‘Did they think I forgot?’ I asked myself. Either way, with their moods improved, they returned to work.

My next destination, was the walls of Sedon. I had to find Ama, and it wasn’t actually that hard to do. She worked hard as usual, I said looking at her back. “Looks great. You are even trying to improve those walls”. She replied while working, “Yea, it wasn’t easy in the beginning, but we are getting there. Is there something you need, or have you just came by to say hello?”.

I smiled while replying, “There is something… A few things. I know you are busy, but I need your help”. She stopped working, looked at me then asked “Seems serious. What is it?”. I continued, “I need a house, a private house but without the floorboards. It will be used for rare herbs from Apium. That is just a small matter though. The biggest issue is, I need something like a Destroyer”.

She asked confused, “Destroyer?”. I slapped my forehead lightly, and drew the Destroyer on a piece of paper. She looked at it for a while, then asked “You need this thing designed and built?”. I shook my head, “No, this is too c.u.mbersome. What we need is something smaller. It would be best if we could place it atop the walls. This would allow us to shoot from the walls, and kill loads of enemies. With that, Sedon would be much safer. Ultimately though, I would want that in Boltier first”.

She thought about it for a while, then replied. “Does it have to shoot boulders?”. I replied with a question, “What do you have in mind?”. She asked “What if we created large bows?”. This idea was not that bad, but one question remained. “Who would operate such big bows? We would need tens of people to tension it, special arrows would need to be made too”. She grabbed the paper I had, and said “I have an idea”.