41 Aureus Astrea 8 (2/2)

Aureus thought it likely that he was overthinking matters, sometimes the simplest answer would suffice. The enemy demon beast wishes to eradicate him here and now.

—

The second day happened much as the first, only this time the demon beast attacks were heavily concentrated on the southern wall where the Blue Water Tribe was. It was not long before the hastily formed flying companies were diverging towards the southern wall to aid the situation there.

As the state of battle progressed, Aureus became increasingly sure that the ultimate aim of the demon beasts were to gauge the strength of the Aureus Army. He immediately sent out orders that commanding officers were not to lead from the front during the duration of the battle. They would report back to the command tent and direct from there. Their second in commands will assume their leadership roles.

As the order reached the various officers, confusion abounded as this was a rare order from Aureus as the officers were used to him dealing with threats as a tiger would hunt a rabbit- will all of one's might and focus.

Nevertheless, they obeyed and the commanding officers discharged their commands to their seconds before heading back to the command tent.

As the officers of the eastern wall gathered around Aureus, there were looks of discontent from many officers for being pulled from the front lines.

Aureus ignored them all and focused on directing the battle. Every order he gave out as sharp and incisive. When the leaders were pulled back to the command tent, they knew that their roles in the battle would more or less be non-existent. With Aureus commanding, was there a need for them to voice anything?

In the end the officers requested to be excused to be allowed to lead the flying companies aiding the barbarians. As this did not affect Aureus's strategy of obfuscating his army's strength, he approved of it instantly.

This state of affairs continued for the next five days. At the end of the week, the horde appeared to have thinned out significantly but there have a slight level of casualty for the barbarian and Aureus's forces.

So far, a sense of camaraderie was slowly being struck up between the two forces as they fought and bled together. Aureus smiled as he saw the various barbarian warleaders mixing with his own officers.

As everyone prepared for the council, Aureus discussed sending out a combined scouting mission with Boulder. Aureus cited that information was paramount and that their next objective would be to ensure that the combined forces would be able to reach the contested lands safely.

Boulder agreed and pledged that he would send the best barbarian scouts he had that knew the area to complement the scouting party Aureus would be sending out.

With the scouting matter out of the way, the council was in full flow. Surprisingly, there was actually momentum on the discussion regarding the integration of military formations with the barbarian forces.

While Aureus was thrilled at the development, he schooled himself to ensure that he would be the last to speak to ensure that all his officers would have a chance to give their voices to the discussion.

In the end, Aureus asked everyone to send their elites and form a company around him on the next day of battle. Aureus himself would take to the field in an attempt to cull the enemy leadership.

The tent erupted in raucous cheers as Aureus ended his proclamation.