Chapter 365 - Nutrition

Note : Probably going to be the end of the streak, though I'm working on a Valentine's Day Special with my girlfriend ^^

Chapter 365

Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Command Center

Well, at least that had gone well.

Emilia had already been going over many of the projects that had been hidden from her before, but going to the labs that had spawned them had been like unleashing a kid upon an unsuspecting candy store. Especially Ghost's arcane laboratory.

That would keep the vampire busy for a while. In the meantime, the dungeon core could deal with some other issues. Like the mess left after the fall of the Duchess.

The purely military aftermath of the battle had been easy. Sunrise had been annihilated, and she had barely taken any losses. The civilian one however...

Of the million or so slaves Sunrise had left by that point, a third had declined to fight, and tried to run for her lines.

Half of those who went to kill their tormenters had paid with their lives. The duchess has set out with three hundred thousand troops, and while Alexandra had whittled them down, a roughly three to one numbers advantage wasn't worth much when faced with better equipped, better trained and highly disciplined troops. They hadn't been annihilated only thanks to their ferocity and the element of surprise.

She'd somehow managed to resurrect half of them. That left her with around seven hundred thousand civilians dependent on her army. Civilians she had to feed and protect, with an army that didn't even top a single hundred thousand, even counting the cultist volunteers they'd gotten.

There was no way they could ship anywhere near the amount of food those people would need. Nor could they make the march to Sarth, even supposing the fortress city could provide for them adequately. Not without resorting to Sunrise's 'solution', which she refused to.

The supplies looted from Sunrise's camp, meant for their regulars, had given her some time, but not a lot of it.

Fortunately, she wasn't just a mad industrialist dungeon core. She was a mad industrialist dungeon core born out of an AI whose code and ideas spread like malware. Like, say, to her own people, who would come up with equally mad ideas.

After some discussions, she was made to realize that there was something she could ship that would solve the situation. Something both she and Rebirth had in relative abundance.

Mana. Industrial quantities of mana. And mages. Well, druids.

They couldn't ship food, but they could ship the means to make some. They had all the skilled manpower they needed, many of the former slaves had been farmers, they just had to use magic to help speed the crops along. Thankfully, Alcheryos had some very fast growing and nutritious plants that could be used for this, though they weren't a good base for long term sustenance, as they lacked, well, basically every critical mineral and element someone needed to live healthily in the long term. They were just insanely calory dense. It reminded her of nutrigel back home, and she was ready to bet those 'natural' plants had been bioengineered to hell and back, probably during the Great Night to help whatever was left survive down in the bunkers.

Either way, that would solve the issue in the short term. Medium term, they would have to start distributing them back to their home territories. She couldn't move them all however, but thankfully many wished to stay put. Either out of fear of what they'd find back home or simply afraid of letting go of their shred of safety, a great deal were preparing to de facto resettle Myriu. That would pose its own problems but one step at a time.

She could probably handle the rest with the reserves they'd grow there and once they could get the territories ahead to help feed the mass of civilians.

For now, however, the issue was -mostly- resolved. Which meant focusing on getting her shattered, almost defunct army to restore order and royal authority in half of the kingdom.

Joy.

At least she had the reinforcements scrambled to make a show as she prepared the last stand. Thirty thousand golems, half of them her very best infantry -at least that she could admit to having-, the other half more or less chaff, at least for now. Three and a half thousand infantry from Darthar, armed to the teeth with the weapons her current troops wielded, plus ten thousand soldiers Sarth had scrounged up from somewhere. Those last ones were of more dubious utility, but right now every little bit helped.

And her fleet...

The ships were almost ready to launch. With the fabricators churning out parts at maximum speed, she had far more on its way than most would guess. Not only did she have two escort carriers and a full squadron of corsairs and raiders ready, but within a few weeks she would have two more squadrons of the lighter vessels taking to the air, alongside her first heavy cruiser, based on the schematics and basic design philosophies she'd sent to Ghost. Which basically boiled down to 'use the Corsair turrets and lots of them'.

That was in addition to her long delayed magic casting vessels, the Frank Exchange of Views, as well as the Vayelyth, Hoshi and Sylvia.

She was tempted to send them east, but there was no point. What were they going to contribute there, exactly? She didn't really have a use for a siege ship, let alone a second one, for peacekeeping duties.

It was high time she sent some reinforcements to the New Republic. Give them a tangible taste of what Rebirth could contribute before the summit began.

And give those that still followed the Senate a reason to consider...alternative arrangements.

*****

"You're getting restless."

Raika came to a halt, before smiling sheepishly at her party's healer. They were both in their party's bunk room, the healer with a book nestled on her lap.

They'd come a long way since they were freed, but they still preferred to all sleep in the same room, with as many weapons as possible within hand's reach. At least they took off their shield belts now, and kept the firearms unloaded.

"Sorry. I probably shouldn't be disturbing you guys."

The mage rolled her eyes, dismissing it with a wave of her cybernetic arm.

"It's fine. We're a party. It's just that you seem like you're about to spontaneously combust. And it's getting worse."

The warrior sighed.

"I am. It's been..." She closed her eyes. "It's been complicated."

"...It's about Alex, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Of course it is."

"I miss her too you know."

The warrior seemed to deflate.

"I know. But...I can't just pretend that we've done everything we could."

"What could we even do that Erik couldn't?"

Raika threw her hands up in frustration.

"I don't know! But we have to do something! I have to do something! Gods damn it, she was kidnapped under my watch! You almost died!" She began pacing again. "And now at least we have some chance of doing something about it!"

"Raika, if the dungeon core couldn't make that enslaving bitch talk, we can't either." Alyssa wasn't a vindictive woman, not deeply, but even she had smiled when she'd learned the dungeon core would be handling the Void Blades personally.

Crystal wasn't known for her delicate touch and abundance of tact and subtlety after all.

"No, but we can go back to Nardria. Someone will know something, I'm sure of it. Especially all those that were already after her."

"And now that we're healed, geared up and the dungeon core is kicking everyone's ass into submission, you feel like we can make a difference?"

Raika sighed.

"No. We probably won't make a difference. But if not us, then who?"

Unspoken was that it would also put their minds at ease. That even if they found nothing, they'd rest assured knowing they'd done all they could.

"The guild-"

Raika rounded on the mage.

"The guild are lying, treacherous bastards, and you know it. You've seen that weasel Starvak. Adamantium rank my ass! He left everyone to die just to get one over the dungeon core." Raika made a throwaway gesture. "Oh on an individual level they're nice. Dominique, Cassie, Orromar...But as a full guild? They're monsters. And you know it."

There was a short silence.

"So what's your plan?" Finally said the healer.

"We gather what we can, and head out. We have the money for the trip-" And a lot more besides. Their delves had always been extraordinarily successful. She suspected the dungeon core had a soft spot for them. So did the twins, or the baroness, no, archduchess now, for that matter. They were rich, and had taken advantage of that and their connections to fully equip themselves. They weren't copper rank anymore, that was for sure. The only reason they had gold and not electrum medallions was because their essence was still lagging behind their gear. "-plus we know people. If we asked, I'm sure Allya would be willing to throw her weight around a bit."

Alyssa smiled.

"Raika, if you ask a favor of her, she'll give us a military transport." The healer shook her head. "If not a warship."

"I'm sure she has better uses for them."

"Not when Sunrise's dead. Besides, we kind of saved her ass once."

"Well yes, but still..."

"Anyway. Once we get there, then what? It's been, what? Two years now?"

"One year, eleven months, fourteen days." Alyssa gave her a surprised look, and Alyssa shrugged, uncomfortably. "I've been keeping count."

"That you have...so, almost two years. What are we going to find? The ambush site is ashes and probably overgrown by now. Everyone involved has moved on. You expect...what, a few crooks and mercs to have stayed there and evaded the guildmaster?"

"I don't know. The Void Blades sure as shit evaded him, didn't they?"

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Okay. Alright." Finally said Alyssa. "You have a point. But we're gonna need help. A single party isn't gonna do much."

"Thankfully, we have friends. I'm sure we can find some people to accompany us."

"Not many are gonna want to leave. Rebirth is growing like crazy, and that's without all the archduchy crap. It's going to become the second most powerful city in the Kingdom, if it isn't already since Sunrise is just smouldering ashes now."

"If we can get Allya's blessings, and maybe a bit of patronage, I'm sure many will jump on board."

Alyssa's eyebrow rose.

"Raika, that's not going on a personal quest at this point. You want official sanction for this? Do you even realize what that entails?"

"We're going into the western baronies, outside of her territory, I know. But let's face it: Allya rules the Kingdom now. Have you seen the news about the Assembly? She says jump, everyone will ask how high. Besides, it's the perfect time! With the brands and contracts gone, all the extradimensionals that have been entraped by them have to be feeling pretty restless. Going after the mysterious disappearance of one will earn her a lot of brownie points."

The healer tilted her head.

"I didn't realize you had such a mind for politics."

"I don't. I just know people like it when you go help their own, just like everyone liked her because she stood up for us, and hated Starvak because that limp wristed gnome folded like a wet tissue."

"You really don't like him."

"No one does. Not anymore."

"Alright. So, we gather the team?"

"I don't know if Fernand will go for it. He's basically Ellyana's apprentice now."

"He will. If it's for Alex, he will."

Raika chuckled.

"Funny, isn't it? We've barely known her, and yet we're all willing to go across the damned continent for a chance to get her back."

Alyssa nodded.

"She seemed to leave...one hell of an impression. So, what now?"

"We gather everybody. Get some gear together. Feel out some friends. Then we go to the archduchess. Get her a fully drawn out plan, not just half formed intentions."

"Alrighty then. First stop, Ellyana's lab?"

"Yeah. We're gonna need some of Fernand's decoctions if we want to revive Thomas."

"Provided we find him."

"It's Thomas. He'll be passed out under a table in a bar. Probably Firegecko's."

"Or he's someone else's bed."

"That also. Alright, let's move!"