Chapter 215: Reconnaissance in force (1/2)

”During tonight's skirmish, we lost three men. Seventeen more were injured during the fight,” Al announced, reading out loud the report prepared by his direct subordinate. He then raised his head at the small gathering of the camp's leaders, coughed to clear his throat, and looked at the thin stone slab in his hand again. ”Out of those, two deceased were from Markus' faction...”

”Stop,” Layn interjected, opening his eyes. Even since he had to listen to a report like that for the first time, he developed a habit of closing his eyes. For some reason, it made it easier for him to hear the bloody news.

In response to his sudden word, all the eyes moved on his face. Even if their structure of command was something they just loosely agreed on, no one ever gave him the right to preside as the overall leader. As such, his remark was not only rude but also unwarranted.

”It doesn't matter who brought them here,” Layn said after the atmosphere turned tense enough. ”Right now, we are all one people; we are the inhabitants of this plain,” he said before lowering his head and closing his eyes again.

”Well then,” Al said, closing his eyes for a moment as well. ”That concludes the report. Now, what are we going to do about it?” he asked, sitting down on his chair.

”We are closing the gap with each passing day,” Markus said, his eyes lowered on the desk and arms crossed on his chest. ”Even with those losses, now we have enough manpower to push our projects through. In a week, we are gaining what others can accomplish in months if not years,” he said, yet his tone wasn't confident at all.

”We need to strike back,” Ation said. His manner of speech directly contrasted Markus's words, both in the meaning and in the tone. He held his head high, looking at every participant directly in the eyes.

Given the split of responsibilities, Gener's faction and Markus faction stated their opinion. And as much as Layn could dislike this split, it appeared that his opinion would likely decide the course of action for everyone.

That is if they were in a system of an oligarchic democracy. 'Thankfully, we are as far as possible from that kind of broken system,' Layn thought while trying to figure out the best path for the camp to take.

”You are both right,” Layn finally said. ”The more we wait before engaging, the stronger we get,” he confirmed Markus' words. ”But there is also a factor of momentum here. While we can omit the development of monsters for a second, the Slavians are not going to just stay in one place and in one situation,” he pointed out.

”What do you mean by that?” Al asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

'Does he really not know it?' Layn pondered, unsure how to take the question. 'For someone as legendary as him to not understand those basic concepts... It's unlikely,' Tom decided before shaking his head. This simple physical motion helped him to sort his thoughts out.

”Right now, we are growing fast because we know what steps to take. As such, we can avoid many pitfalls, directing our efforts right at what we need the most,” Layn said, explaining the advantage of their situation. ”But this situation will not last forever. Because in terms of Slavians, they can compensate for the lack of technology and knowledge with their sheer numbers,” the archmage said as his expression sank.