Second World

Kabaka, Aldryth, and Horatio again looked at one another after Thelgrun's declaration.

Aldryth was the next to speak, "My people and I owe the Themisphere King a great deal. We would have perished if not for him. I don't mind heeding his words for this campaign, but I have to make it clear another time. I will not have my army move anywhere else until we regain Hydrurond."

"That is natural. That will also be our priority," Grace replied.

John turned to Jack who just shrugged. If John had not made a strategy that prioritized retaking Hydrurond, he would have to do that now.

"Well, I consider King Storm Wind a friend and someone I can trust," Kabaka spoke. "If it is him, I can rest assured that he will not send my troops for a selfish reason. I trust him more than anyone else in this room. I agree to have him as our alliance's leader."

Horatio smiled. "Well, then. Since everyone has agreed, it will make me look bad if I am the only one not agreeing. That doesn't mean I don't agree, of course. I assume my interaction with King Storm Wind is the shortest, but I am confident in my ability to judge a character. I too believe that King Storm Wind is a fair friend who will not misuse our army to further his agenda. All right, I agree."

John clapped his hands. "Now, since everyone has agreed…"

"We agree that it will be King Storm Wind who relays the orders," Horatio interrupted John's speech. "All commands will come through him."

"That is a waste of time. It will be more effective if I…"

"We understand you are King Storm Wind's chief strategist," Horatio again interjected. "We have also heard reports of your… hard-heartedness. We will feel more comfortable if King Storm Wind has reviewed your orders before sending them to our armies."

"Sigh… fine," John said. "I will send our guild members to follow each of your army leaders…"

"We have outworlders who we trust," Horatio cut John's words again. "We brought them with us here. King Storm Winds can enter them into his friend list. Commands will be relayed to them before they are given to our armies. They will make sure that it is truly King Storm Wind who gives the commands."

"Ugh… You are truly cautious," John remarked. Jack and Jeanny were stifling their laughter at the back.

Jack proceeded to send friend invitations to Jonathan and Viking. Four Winds and Arthur were already on his friend list. At the same time, he sent a message to John. "I don't have the time to review your every command. I will relay them the way you send them to me, so don't do anything fancy like sacrificing our allies for our benefit. Don't lose my reputation, okay? We are not winning this war just to make new enemies."

"Don't worry, I understand," John replied.

Horatio also knew that it was not practical to have every order reviewed during wartime. The point of having a single chain of command was to expedite decision-making and have the troops on the field carry out those decisions straightaway. Having those decisions reviewed would just counteract the benefit of this chain of command in the first place. The reason he asked for Jack to be the go-to person was so that there was a sense of accountability.

If the strategy ended up causing an unfair loss to one side, it would be Jack who had to answer for it. In turn, it was Jack whom John had to answer to. With this arrangement, Horatio believed John would be more restrained to avoid Jack's wrath.

This just showed the vampire prince didn't understand John well enough.

"All right. Now that we have a picture of what we have, what the opponents are likely to have, and who will be the one barking the orders. You will now receive your army assignments," John announced. "Palgrost army will, as mentioned, prepare their ships and sail to the inland sea between the Daflue region and the Liguritudum Realm. You will stay on the side of the Daflue region. Don't go engaging the enemy's armada until your next command."

"What if the Liguritudum armada comes to us?" Thelgrun asked.

"Then move away," John answered.

"…" Thelgrun didn't know what to say. Why bother sailing there in the first place?

"Will the one million Themisphere troops in Palgrost sail with us on our ships?" He asked instead.

"No, they have different assignments," John replied without explaining any further. He went to Aldryth next.

"Following your demand, you will invade Hydru…"

"Return!" Aldryth corrected.

John took a deep breath. He was starting to get exasperated by these constant interruptions. Jack and Jeanny were giggling in silence at the back seeing this annoying man getting annoyed.

"… you will return and retake Hydrurond, aided by the Sangrod's army," John said as he turned to Horatio. In case this vampire emperor had something to say again. Horatio simply nodded at the instruction.

John continued, "As for Verremor's force, you will go through the Dorwin region and invade Aurebor."

"Mm…" Kabaka grunted. His army would love to crush those pointed ears. Before their falling out with the humans, the elves were the race they had the most conflict with.

"Those are your assignments," John said. "We will make adjustments based on the enemy's movements and react accordingly."

"I have three questions," Horatio uttered.

"Go ahead," John replied.

"First question. Why not just focus our army and take our enemies down one by one?"

"Fair question," John replied. "To answer that question. A larger army is good, but passing a certain threshold, an army can't fight as effectively anymore. Having too many soldiers fighting on the same battlefield will just have a large portion of them sitting at the back doing nothing. It is more effective to split them into smaller more manageable forces and strike simultaneously."

"What if it is the enemy who consolidates all their force in one place?" Thelgrun asked.

"Then it's all the better for us," John replied. "We are the invaders this time. They are the defenders. If they put all their forces in one country. The one that meets this force can simply play defense, or even retreat if they have to. At the same time, our other forces can take out the other two countries which should be vulnerable since they have no force. Losing a country means they lose the resources to recruit more forces. In the long run, they will be weakened. Once we are done with those two countries, we can regroup at the enemy's last country for a final battle."

Horatio nodded. "Second question. What will the Themisphere army do while we advance following your assignments?"

"The Themisphere army will move based on the enemy's movements and react accordingly," John answered. "Either go to where the enemy has more troops or where the enemy is vulnerable. That will all depend on the enemy's movement first. You don't need to worry about our army. Know that everything is fine with my arrangement."

Jack had the urge to go and knock John on the head.

Horatio didn't mind the treatment. He asked his third question. "Let's say we happen to defeat the country we are sent to. Who gets the throne?"

"No one! Hydrurond's throne belongs to the draconians!" Aldryth exclaimed.

"Well, in that case, I'm interested in the answer to that question," Kabaka said. He was tasked to invade Aurebor. Unlike Hydrurond, no one here had a claim over Aurebor's throne.