Chapter 15: Chapter 15
Dejected, he returned to his improvised camp where the priest, mocking him, called out:
"It seems that everything is not going as planned!"
Tolir gritted his teeth and refrained from commenting, he merely ordered:
"Gag him."
Which a group of goblins accomplished without any mercy to the hostage. A frustrated Tolir knew he had to prepare for the arrival of reinforcements that would rescue the city. He was missing two important parameters to determine how much latitude he had left before they showed up: the time it would take to mobilize their resources and the size of those resources.
For the first, it could be from one or two days, the time to bring in reinforcements, assuming they were already ready to leave, to a month or more if they lacked equipment and fighters. However, logically, according to the reluctance of the Cult to use violence by humans, he assumed that the army would use golems, which reduces the logistics to be implemented.
Thus, came the second, the size of the army to be mobilized. If the main risk is to underestimate it and to oppose it with a much inferior army, he should not neglect the possibility to overestimate it because this one would imply a time of mobilization much lower and especially, he would risk to opt for unsuitable tactics...
He sighed, unable to know where he could gather this information... The priest would eventually have it, but Tolir doubted that he would speak with joy... There was always the option of torturing him but... That would force him into a spiral of violence that would frighten him. Just imagining this possibility surprised him, he who, a few days ago was shocked by the sight of a corpse, now he admitted without difficulty, the idea of subjecting a hostage to torture...
Determined not to stoop to that level, he straightened up, motivating himself in the short term. For the moment, he had to strengthen himself at all costs. Since he had no hold on his opponent, why worry? He might as well play his advantages to the fullest and hope that it was enough. And besides, he would have plenty of time to come up with plans during his down time.
To begin with, he had to gather as much aether as possible. Until now, he realized, he had neglected this aspect, thinking that he would have all the time in the world, and had been cautious about the distribution of cores. Especially since, on second thought, a rank I aetheric core was cheap and relatively expendable. Finally, if he wanted to have a substantial army, it was preferable to multiply these accessible cores rather than to increase the rank of the old ones for a prohibitive price.
He only had to solve his main problem: the route. If laying a network of cores was in the end rather simple, recovering their aether at regular intervals, on the other hand, proved much more problematic. Suddenly, he remembered a capture from the lumberjack camp.
Worried about what had happened to it, he rushed to check that it had not been damaged. He let out a reassured sigh when he saw the workhorse quietly eating hay, its wagon not far away. Once the relief wore off, Tolir wondered if Alyn was responsible.
He set out to find her. After they had returned from their attempt to stop the messenger, she had gone into the woods and told him that she would be nearby. Intrigued, he searched the area and finally caught her in the middle of her training. In her hands was a dagger with which she seemed to be repeating a series of predetermined movements.
Tolir waited for her to stop her exercise before intervening. She startled when she saw him:
"Did something happen?"
"No, don't worry, I just wanted to ask you if it was you who took care of the horse?"
"When we got home this morning, the poor animal was neighing all the time. So, I untied him and gave him some food. Why, didn't I have to?"
"No, you did well! I wonder, would you be able to drive the cart since you seemed to know how to take care of it?"
Alyn chuckled, running a hand through her hair:
"Actually, I was just repeating what I observed in the village when they came to collect our crops... But, after all, I can always try!"
"Really? That would be great! When would you be available for a test drive?"
"In about half an hour, until I'm back on my feet."
Tolir nodded. Now that she mentioned it, the last time he had really cleaned up was when he visited Vold's city... That was like a lifetime ago. By dint of being around goblins and their not-so-pleasant smell, he had been careless about this aspect... Especially since the clothes he had been wearing since his arrival seemed immune to filth. He wondered if Zali had something to do with it, after all, it was she who had invoked him into this world with this outfit...
He let Alyn take care of her, while he returned to the camp. If he had a means of transport, it changed everything! He could effortlessly join the cores that he would scatter everywhere. He liked the idea. He began to draw a map, noting the locations where he could place the cores and maximize the space available.
He estimated the minimum distance between two cores to be about five kilometers. Thus, extrapolating the available space, could summon about twenty to thirty. If each of them collected as many ethers as those in place, he could expect a daily production range of between one hundred and twenty and two hundred and forty ethers, which varied from simple to twice...
On a reasonable assumption of one hundred and fifty, he would need about ten days to build a modest army of seven hundred goblins. However, a problem was going to arise with the absence of sufficient link even with this impressive quantity of cores what would oblige him to improve them at least to the rank II. Especially since, unless he constituted an army of goblin recruits, he would need them to have the required knowledge slots.
All of this added to the initial investment in aether. He lowered his expectation to a small army of five hundred creatures in the end... Eventually, he could compensate by recovering some orbs of aether located in remote places of this world... However, once the production started, he would enter a mechanism of mass invocation that would very quickly allow him to have an important force.
The hardest part would be to exceed the ten days beyond which he hoped to compete with the army of golems, which would open up many more strategic options. His plan ready, it only remained to put it in place and crossed his fingers that no major obstacle would hinder its implementation.
When Alyn returned, they began their attempts to use the cart. Alyn untied the animal and carefully fitted it with a harness. Without complaint, the horse let her. Reassured of the animal's attitude, Tolir climbed into the wagon while Alyn sat in the coach seat, reins in hand.
With a gentle gesture, she ordered the horse to move forward, which it did. Pulling from one side or the other, she steered him without any problem. Tolir, at the back, rubbed his hands together, delighted at the idea of no longer having to exhaust himself walking countless kilometers.
With the preliminary tests completed, the girl decided to accelerate to a more appropriate cruising speed. As she guided it through the unprepared terrain of the forest, the wagon began to shake, creating terrible discomfort for its two passengers.
Tolir swore. The vibrations made it impossible to take a long ride... Especially since around the lumber camp, the space between the trees was wide, but further on, the forest was thickening, making it impossible to use the cart.
"Let's stop here, it's useless..." He grumbled.
"What are we going to do then?"
Tolir paused for a moment, thinking of a backup solution before telling Alyn:
"I could ride him instead... It'll be even faster, don't you think?"
"It's a good idea, especially since one of us will be able to watch the city at the same time..."
Starting with this idea, Tolir motivated himself with the idea of taming the animal. After all, the rest of the plan depended on its ability to move quickly. Not very reassured by his idea, despite the fact that he had suggested it, he approached the horse, untied it and fitted it with a saddle.
Cautiously, he climbed on the horse's back. The animal, peaceful, accepted him without flinching. With an insecure gesture, Tolir ordered the horse to move forward. It obeyed. During the whole test session, he respected all of Tolir's orders. The latter gradually gained confidence in himself to the point of trusting the animal.
A memory came back to his mind. He already knew this feeling. In his former life, he had already ridden a horse. The circumstances did not come back to him, but he knew that it was not the first time that he accomplished this same experience. At first reluctant, he soon took a liking to it before being intoxicated by the feeling of freedom that his link with the animal gave him.
In his memory, he laughed as he burst out laughing under the worried gaze of Alyn who wondered what was happening to him.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone