"Where will the Themisphere army move out to?" Aldryth asked.
"Before that. Let us hear how many troops everyone can mobilize," John said.
"I only have the 500,000 soldiers that follow me out from Hydrurond," Aldryth said. "I'm not in a position to recruit any additional troops in my current situation. Some deserters and adventurers from Hydrurond joined my force but they were not many."
"I thought I would have the fewest troops. I can spare 600,000 troops for the campaign," Thelgrun said with a wide grin.
Aldryth gave the dwarf a side-eye. This was not a competition.
"Let it be known. If I move my troops, it will be into Hyrdurond," Aldryth stated. "I won't move my troops anywhere else while my country is still under conquest."
"We respect that," Jack said.
John gave Jack a gaze that said, 'Are you the strategist or me?'
He waved for Jack to move back while he addressed Thelgrun, "It's okay that you only supply 600,000 troops, but we will need your siege weapons. I believe you still have mana cannons stashed somewhere, don't you?"
"I can round up my siege weapons from my other settlements. I can probably get ten of them moving with my troops," Thelgrun answered.
John nodded. He then said, "And your ships as well. I believe they are all still intact."
The border region between Palgrost and Liguritudum was the marsh region of Daflue. In between the Daflue region and Liguritudum was an inland sea. If one wanted to take a direct route between Palgrost and Liguritudum, one had to go through this inland sea.
This was also the route that the Liguritudum army used for their invasion. They had an armada that carried their massive army into the Daflue region. From there, they went on foot before entering Palgrost.
"Do you want to invade Liguritudum via the inland sea?" Thelgrun asked.
"It's not a good idea," Kabaka said. "Liguritudum has a strong armada. This armada is mainly for defensive purposes. Neither the Civil War nor the wars in Aurebor, Hydrurond, and Palgrost involved this armada, so they are still at their full force."
"That's right," Thelgrun added. "My ships might be more advanced, but Liguritudum has more ships and better sailors."
"I've heard that Verremor's armada is also formidable," John said to Kabaka.
"We are," Kabaka said proudly. "Unfortunately, Liguritudum is too far. It will take us too long to get there. Not to mention we have to brave the outer sea which is very dangerous."
"Let us deal with the issues one by one," John said. "Suffice to say, I will require Palgrost's and Verremor's armadas. What about the force you can spare, grand chief? How many troops can you send?"
"We have lost quite a number when we invaded Themisphere," Kabaka said. "We have been trying to rebuild our forces, but the process is slow… Except the province led by Cipher Flight."
Kabaka was looking at Four Winds as he spoke. Verremor was a nation controlled by ten different tribes. Each tribe leader had access to a partial monarch system and had the autonomy to build their forces. As the grand chief, Kabaka's access to the monarch system allowed him to monitor all ten tribes' forces.
He was glad that under Four Winds' guidance, the army in that province increased at a remarkable pace. Now, after learning about Themisphere's army growth and the truth of the world, he wondered if outworlders held an unfair advantage when it came to ruling a country.
The fact was indeed so. Four Winds received tips about the monarch system from Jack. Even though he couldn't use all the monarch system's functions, the ones available to him were utilized to the fullest. He was also very good at managing his guild members, who helped him deal with the affairs. He didn't have a sovereign level, but he had a governor level, which was the same except it came with half the benefit.
"Out of the troops we have, we can spare 1,400,000 troops for this campaign," Kabaka announced. "I have to keep the remaining 500,000 troops for our nation's security. Several transfers of power have happened to our council within this short year, I'm afraid those ousted tribes might cause trouble if we send too many troops out of our nation."
"I understand," Jack responded, which awarded him another glare from John.
"What about the Sangrod Empire?" John turned to Horatio. "Aside from the brief siege on Vacharest when you overthrew your father, Sangrod is the most peaceful country among all the seven main countries these last two years. Your army is the most unharmed compared to the others."
Horatio chuckled. "In terms of army count, our country has always had the fewest troops compared to other countries. It all comes down to two reasons. Firstly, vampires have a low birth rate, or maybe it is more correct to say turn rate as we are not born the way other races are. We are turned. In return, we have a longer life span and due to that, our soldiers have higher average levels. Secondly, we have the Eternal Night country enchantment in place. As everyone knows, we vampires possess higher attributes during nighttime. It is not advantageous for outside forces to invade us. Thus, there is no need for Sangrod to maintain a high army count."
"Are you preparing excuses to justify sending a small army for this campaign?" Kabaka teased.
Horatio chuckled. "I'm simply stating the fact," he responded. "Anyway, the number I can mobilize is 1,600,000 troops."
"Does this number include the vanguard troops led by Vanessa in Palgrost," John asked.
"Yes," Horatio answered.
"I thought we were going all out to stop the Liguritudum ruler," Kabaka said. "My intel mentioned that Sangrod has around 2,600,000 troops. Even if my intel isn't accurate, it shouldn't be that far from that number. Are you keeping away a million soldiers?"
"Before our talk this morning, I only plan to send out 700,000 soldiers at most," Horatio replied. "To be frank with you all, my country is not peaceful at the moment. I might have seized the throne, but there is a faction in my country that doesn't consider me a suitable emperor. This faction is comprised of clans who are loyal to my father. They aren't many, but they have a troublesome figurehead."
"Who?" Kabaka asked.
"Archibald Silas, one of my father's trusted followers," Horatio answered. "He is also the strongest out of the three relic marshalls of my country."
