"Five… Five hundred thousand?" Jack stammered. That was way more than the participants during the civil war.
"What about the native army that is heading to the front line? What's their number?" Jack asked.
"We have arrived. You will hear the details in the meeting," Jeanny said.
Two soldiers who guarded the large door to the throne room opened the door for them. Jack and Jeanny entered a hall full of people. Despite the stunning number of people, everyone lined up nicely. On the throne at the far side, Prince Alonzo was sitting there, and beside him were John, royal advisor Mason, and Duchess Isabelle.
"Is Alonzo crowned king already?" Jack asked Jeanny in a whisper.
"No. Originally, the coronation was supposed to be carried out this week, but Verremor's invasion has put the ceremony on hold. It will be carried out after the invasion is repelled," Jeanny answered. She took Jack to the front where John was waiting.
On his way, Jack saw many familiar faces. Armstrong, Ahab, Quintus, Alfredo, Salem, and the rests. But standing at the front facing Prince Alonzo were two persons Jack had never seen before. The aura from the two was a league above the others in this hall. Jack used his Inspect on them.
*
Emris (Mythical Human, Lord Marshall), level 85
HP: 1,980,000
*
Meryl (Mythical Human, Lord Marshall), level 80
HP: 1,850,000
*
Emris was an old man with a grey beard and mage attire. He held in his hand an intricate silver staff with a shining jewel on its tip. Jack could tell that this old man was a powerful magician with one glance. His level was even higher than Arther Pendrake, the Lord Marshall they had fought against during the civil war.
Meryl, on the other hand, was a woman warrior garbed in armor. Jack couldn't tell for sure what kind of warrior this woman was, because she carried all sorts of weapons. There were two swords hung by her waist, a shield slung on his back accompanied by a bow and a quiver of arrows. She might be a warrior that adjusted based on the situation.
The two gave Jack and Jeanny a glance as they walked up to the side where Lord Commander Amstrong and Duke Alfredo were standing. Jack exchanged greetings with them with simple nods.
"All right, now that our third general has arrived, we can begin this briefing," John announced.
"Hold. You can't mean that outworlder is the third general?" Meryl asked while pointing at Jack.
"I mean exactly that," John replied.
"My prince, are you sure?" Emris also asked. "Although I have my reservations, I didn't object when you appointed this outworlder as our chief strategist. But to appoint one of them as the army general, he is too weak for that position."
"You are not wrong, old man. But the same as devising strategy, commanding an army doesn't strictly require personal strength," John said.
Emris flashed John an annoyed stare. He was speaking to the prince, why was it John the one who answered? And how dare this outworlder addressed him as an old man!
"I understand your concern, but know that the prince and the royal advisor have agreed to this arrangement," John added, completely unbothered by Emris' stare.
"It is as he said, Lord Marshall Emris," Prince Alonzo said.
John then added, "If it makes you feel any better, Lord commander Armstrong and Duchess Isabelle will be by the third general's sides, providing him with the required strength. Now then, let's leave this unimportant matter aside and discuss the urgent issues."
Both Emris and Meryl were vexed. The concern they pointed out was called an unimportant matter. But since the Prince had confirmed John's words, there was no point to argue.
There was a platform in front of the throne that was similar to the one in their Guild Hall. John's hands moved around as he worked on the platform's interface. A huge 3D projection then appeared above them. It showed the border region where the Themisphere kingdom connected with the Fulgur Region. Many red triangles were seen crossing over from the Fulgur region.
"The enemy movements here are the information that our scouts have gathered one day ago. From these movements, I say the enemy's armies will finish assembling their forces in our border region in around one week."
"One week? It will take us more days to march there. They can push deeper and raze more of our towns," Meryl said.
"That is possible, but I suspect they won't do that," John said.
"Why is that?"
"They are in a foreign territory. It is not wise to penetrate deeper without knowing better the lay of the land. Not while the defending army was still intact and not inferior in number compared to them. They might get ambushed from an unknown angle while they are trying to occupy the next towns. They also need to build a stable network of supplies. If they just push deeper into our country, we will have a better chance of defeating them even if we lost a few more towns. But no, I don't think they will. I think they will set up base camps in this border region and study the land there while waiting for our armies to arrive. After defeating our army, then only will they push deeper."
"… Are you sure about this?"
"Of course not. I'm not a prophet," John replied. Meryl was visibly upset by John's crude remark. "What I do are deductive guesses. Let's say if I'm wrong. We have also instructed the towns near the area where the orcs had invaded to strengthen their garrisons and defenses. The civilians had been escorted to the next towns. So, if they were attacked, they just need to hold out as long as possible until we arrive."
"Considering if I'm right and they waited for our armies, the battle will be fought at these three different fronts," John continued while pointing at the projection above. "As you see, the orcs had come invading from three different areas. Each of these three armies had an estimated number of 800,000 natives and 200,000 outworlders. So in total, they have 2,400,000 native soldiers with 600,000 outworlders."
Jack saw grim expressions on everyone's faces after John mentioned the numbers.
"On our side, we have assembled a total of 2,200,000 native soldiers and 500,000 outworlders," John said. "The numbers aren't exactly far apart but considering the orcs were a warring race, each of their soldiers had better experiences in warfare. The levels of their average soldiers are also slightly higher due to the constant war in their country, so generally, we are at a disadvantage."
"We can assemble more soldiers but unfortunately, our kingdom covers more borders with neighboring countries. Aside from Verremor, our borders are also connected to the Sangrod Empire and Aurebor Dynasty. Even though we are on peaceful terms with these two, we can't pull every force from those borders, we still need to leave some just in case. As for Verremor, their borders are only to us and the Aurebor Dynasty. The rest of their borders were facing the sea, so they had one less threat to worry about. We also have to leave some troops to remain stationed in the cities and towns in case the enemies opt to break into smaller troops and play guerilla warfare and raid our cities."
"I think you are missing one important point, chief strategist," Meryl said. "Due to Arther's departure, we are one Lord Marshall less, while the enemy has three war chiefs, the equivalent of our Lord Marshalls."
"We have Duchess Isabelle to cover up the shortage," Commander Armstrong said. "We have seen her butted head with Arther, the duchess is no less powerful."
"That might be, but we receive the news that the reclusive Shaman King from Verremor had also been spotted in the enemy's army. We are short one high-level mythical-grade combatant."
"That's true, but war isn't won simply by strength alone," John said.
"So, how do you propose us to bridge this gap in strength?"
"By throwing more soldiers at them," John pointed at the map. "While each of Verremor's three armies is composed of the same number of soldiers, our scouts informed us that the left and the right armies were each commanded by one war chief. While the shaman king and the last war chief are in the central army. For that, we will bulk up our central army, designated here as the dragon army, with 1,200,000 natives and the majority of officers at level 70 and above. The dragon army will be headed by old man Emris here, the strongest Lord Marshall in our kingdom!"
Even though John gave him praise as the strongest Lord Marshall, Emris was still peeved at being called an old man. He was eager to teach this outworlder a lesson but he kept his cool.
"The dragon army will be the key to our victory. With more soldiers, we hope hero Emris can defeat the enemy. If the enemy's central army is routed, it will lower the enemy's morale and give our other two armies a better fighting chance."
