Karl and the team were quickly escorted to the Battalion Commander’s tent, where they found a Commander Rank soldier with his secretary bent over his desk when the scout burst in unannounced. Karl stopped the team and let the scout be the only one to go inside while the tent flap swung closed, and Tessa did her best not to laugh out loud.
“Dammit, knock.” The man shouted, as the secretary, who was in civilian clothing, hurriedly rearranged her skirt.
“It’s a cloth door, sir. We have a report that you need to hear. A Commander led mercenary scout team took out roughly seventy Frost Giants in the zone just today. It has given us reason to believe that the deployment orders understated the severity of the threat.” The scout announced in a dry tone as Karl and the team waited outside.
Hawk and Rae had kept a bunch of the heads for just this reason, and they quickly piled them up outside the Command Tent, creating a five-metre tall mound of Giant skulls still dripping with blood.
The scout and his Commander stepped outside and saw the massive pile of heads, then turned in shock to Karl.
“Where the hell did those come from?” The Commander demanded.
“I have a skill to keep body parts from defeated monsters in a separate space for the day. I use it to provide proof of kills, as we are on commission, not salary.” Karl informed him.
“Someone count those and do a Rank check on them.” The Commander shouted.
Nobody was hurrying to do that duty, but they would get to it, Karl was certain.
The Battalion Commander gestured inside. “Please, come in. I need a report on the situation, and anything you know about that fire burning at the other end of the valley.”
Karl took a seat across from the other Commander, while the rest of the team sat in the chairs along the wall.
“The fire is easy. I used Frost Giant bodies to light a bonfire and slow the enemy advance so that they wouldn’t follow us toward you. I got the message that you were moving in an artillery battalion, and I really didn’t want to get caught in a bombardment while we slept tonight.” Karl explained.
The Commander smiled. “That was the right choice. We had no idea where you were in the zone, and the bombardment will start with the morning light. Not that your group wouldn’t be able to outrun it in most cases, as long as you were listening to the radio, but still.”
Karl heard some commotion and stomping outside, and realized that the soldiers were trying to unload Thor, who had distinctly not given them permission to touch his bags.
“Tessa, Lotus, can you take Thor outside the camp and deal with his burden? Pick what might be useful and bring it back. The rest can be turned in for credit.” Karl instructed.
They disappeared out of the tent flap, while the Battalion Commander waited for Karl to explain.
“We didn’t just take heads. I’ve got a Lightning Cerro outside with bags full of unidentified magic items. Someone tried to get into his bags, and he was getting upset to the point of considering stunning them with [Earthquake].” Karl explained.
“A Lightning Cerro learned Earthquake?” The Commander asked, completely confused.
“Not only that, he learned Circle of Protection, and he’s almost to Commander Rank now. Give him a little longer, and I think that we can teach him a healing circle as well. It will be glorious, a self-healing, self shielding, self buffing tank.” Karl agreed.
The Commander shook his head in dismay. “Even I never managed to learn Earthquake, much less a Circle of Protection. Instead, I mastered the basics up to Commander Rank. Slash, Guard, Shield Bash and Commanding Shout.”
“You didn’t get the scribes to at least make you a Rend skill book? I believe all warriors can use them.” Karl asked.
The man laughed. “No, by the time that I wanted more skills I had become an officer, and it was ‘Lieutenant Dalton go here, Lieutenant Dalton, go there’. I was never in active combat anymore, so I never needed to upgrade.”
“Well, that does make some sense. Desk officers and unit officers don’t spend a lot of time fist fighting Frost Giants, they have other responsibilities. My group, on the other hand, spends all our time fighting. That’s all that we’ve done since Awakened Rank, with a few pit stops back at the Academies to remind people that we’re still alive.” Karl explained.
Commander Dalton sighed. “Well, that’s one way to live. But aren’t you worried that one day the mission will go wrong and all that credit you earned will be for nothing?”
Dana looked nervous, as she had certainly considered exactly that when she was thinking about joining Karl outside the Academy. But Ophelia was a Berserker, and ending in glorious battle when you were too old or crippled to fight was basically a life goal for her class.
Karl smiled. “It’s a chance, and if that’s the way that Nature wills it, that’s the way it will be. Nevertheless, I have faith in the World Dragon that we will live to a ripe old age.”
Dana smiled. That was precisely the sort of non-answer that Lotus would have given.
The two clerics came back in with one large bag of stuff, and Thor retreated to his space.
“Done already?” Karl asked.
“Yep. There were only a few truly good things in there, since we were already stocked up. We have a ring and boots for Bear, Lotus and I have taken a bracelet each, and there is a brooch for Dana. The other boots are for you, if you can use them.” Tessa explained.
They were Commander Rank leather boots with fur trim at the top, and an increase to his cold damage resistance. But most importantly, they were warm.
Karl also noticed that she had a bundle of weapons behind her back that she wasn’t speaking about, possibly just so that the soldiers wouldn’t get upset that they took all the best for themselves and didn’t leave anything exceptional for the base to skim off before it was officially submitted.
“Will you be needing space within the camp, or do you prefer to camp outside?” Commander Dalton asked.
Karl thought of the nearby caves that Hawk had found. “I think that we will set up not far from your position, within the caves. They’re easier for our group to keep warm and comfortable than a tent, and they’re sheltered from some of the sound of artillery.”
Dalton nodded. “I will leave you to it, then. Remember to inform me of your patrol route before you leave again so that we can avoid shelling your position.”
“That won’t be a problem. We will likely leave later in the day tomorrow, once we know how the Frost Giants are reacting to the presence of an artillery battalion in the area. They sent reinforcements yesterday when we started to target their trainees, so there is a chance they will transfer even more, or even retreat entirely once your teams get to work.” Karl explained.
Commander Dalton ran a hand through his short brown hair, then replaced his cap. “Understood. We will call for you over the radio if they decide that an offensive is the answer. We’re a bit short on actual fighters, as you might have noticed, and we only have four clerics with us to keep the weapon enchantments active and do part-time healing duty.”
Karl nodded. “Alright, if we’re still around, we will see what we can do. We’re not a front line, stand and fight head on sort of team, it’s better to just let us work from the shadows. We can go through quite a few Frost Giants that way without them finding us.”
Dalton smiled and gestured to the door. “Good luck, we have space if you can’t find somewhere comfortable.”
Karl led the group out of the Command Tent. It wouldn’t be a problem to find a spot. Hawk had already scouted them, they were just too close to the military camp for them to arrive at undetected. But since the Battalion knew that they were there, they didn’t have to put up a tent, they could just have Rae make a cover for the door and keep the interior of the cave heated.
It took time to get a cave properly warm, but once the rocks were holding heat, it would stay warm for quite a while. Warm places to sleep were in short supply in this unnaturally cold region, but Hawk was getting quite skilled at finding them.
The cave that Hawk had found today turned out to be fairly deep, and ran nearly ten metres into the cliff face, where running water had cut away the limestone over the years. That would work out well for them. It was protected from the elements, but there was still plenty of ventilation, and an easily defensible single entrance.