Godfather's System

180. Interlude - Takis

"Third group. Pattern red-twelve. Attack! Fourth group. Pattern green-four. Suppressive fire! Spearman, set up a wall," Takis shouted, and twenty ballista attacked at once, cutting his path of approach successfully, but his opponent still retreated easily, leaving the magic bolts to explode uselessly.

Third failed attempt without using his command skill. Dealing with an opponent that possessed high Speed was harder than he had expected.

That would not do, Takis thought as he moved onto the next stage of the plan, and stretched his command skill. Just like that, the soldiers that were reloading the ballistas turned into an extension of him, just like his limbs. He stopped shouting orders, conveying them through his skill.

His soldiers followed the Charisma-backed command easily, unlike their first attempt. Weeks of practice was paying off.

He first focused on the spearmen, a mental order enough for them to adjust their formation, widening to cover up more area, offering a tempting target for the opponent to take; but when he rushed forward, Takis shifted his attention to the ballistas.

The first salvo rained to his right. "Missed again," his opponent shouted even as he moved to the left right into the second and third salvos, launched before the first one, covering too wide of an area to make even the speed useless, delivered in perfect timing

And exploded in a blue, sticky cloud.

"Excellent work, soldiers. Take a break," Takis shouted, and the soldiers started dispersing, satisfied. "However, don't forget that I want an action report from every sergeant!" That added some grumbling to the mix, but Takis ignored it.

He couldn't be there for every battle, and the better his officers understood their tactics against superior opponents, the lower the losses would be. A few hours spent analyzing his tactics by themselves was a good method to pass on that knowledge.

It was just like the boss had taught: Only by developing a competent core of officers that could think for themselves and take initiative without fear, did they have any chance of defending their territory.

While his army dispersed, Takis walked toward the dispersing cloud and activated an isolation ward and his opponent stepped out. "Damn it. I hate this color" Terma grumbled as he patted his armor, doing his best to not look like a botched paint job. "Can't you find someone else to practice your tactics on?"

"Unfortunately, no," Takis answered. "After your promotion, you're by far the fastest member of our group. You're the only one that can really test the limits of our tactics."

"But I look ridiculous," Terma complained as he removed his helmet, showing half of his face colored blue, the paint they used to replicate mana explosions. Takis had already set up a blocking ward, so there was no harm in revealing his face after all, not all church soldiers knew the truth about their allegiance. Terma was a known member of the Dawn Hammers, so his presence would be suspicious while helping the church forces.

"You don't. Don't worry about it," Takis said, doing his best to look serious. He managed not to laugh, but a snicker still escaped.

"I knew it," Terma grumbled. "How many times do we have to do this?"

Takis shrugged. "Boss' orders were clear. We're going to repeat it until the ballista teams can pull the tactic off without my help. Bring your complaints to him. I'm sure he'll find you something else to do."

"No thanks," Terma said. "He's already keeping me back, claiming I'm too young despite my new class. I don't want to give him an excuse to reduce me to a messenger. I want to fight in the front, just like my brother!"

"Then, you better do your best during the war-games, and prove to him that you're responsible," Takis said. "Now, wash the paint before your skin changes color permanently."

His eyes widened. "That can happen?" he gasped as he dashed away. Luckily, he didn't forget to put his helmet on.

Takis chuckled as he walked back to his tent, amused by Terma's antics. No wonder Euon was reluctant to let Terma have any responsibility in the front lines. At first, when Takis realized they had an additional fighter with both Speed and Strength, he was excited. After all, Euon showed just how devastating of a combination it was during the siege.

As a result, the decision to keep Terma away from the army had been frustrating. He had several incredible tactics that could be done with his help, but Euon was clear. No teenagers in the army unless it was a literal life and death situation.

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For Takis, it felt weird at first, but the more he worked with Terma, the more he realized Euon's perspective. He was still too immature and excitable, and no amount of leveling would change that.

With a sigh, he walked back to the main camp, where waves and waves of soldiers lined up, split in squads, going through a practice even more intense than what Takis had designed when they were just a band of mercenaries.

"How's the morale?" Takis asked as he approached Yhim, one of the lieutenants.

"Sir, the morale is excellent," Yhim said. "After our victory, no one is grumbling about the training being a waste of time anymore."

"Excellent news," Takis said, though he was not surprised by the result. They had taken down two armies with next to no casualties on their side, and even though the defenses Zolast set had played the biggest role, there had been enough close-quarter combat to show the soldiers the benefits of a more structured training regime.

He stayed at the edge of the camp, watching the training calmly, his mind already churning at full speed to identify the potential areas of improvement, Intelligence allowing him to split his attention to analyze the entire army at the same time.

And, Wisdom allowed him to remember every single mental note he made about the improvements, to be used later. He was tempted to walk among the army and deliver them one by one but he remembered how Euon and Zolast stopped him the first time he tried it.

The curse of micromanagement, Euon called it before explaining how intervening with the soldiers directly would not only undermine their direct commanding officers, but also breed a habit of avoiding responsibility and following orders too tightly.

Zolast wasn't as strict, but even he agreed that too many direct interventions would stifle the habit of taking initiative. He was clear. Unless Takis was sure he could be on every battlefield at the same time, he had to be careful training them.

Which was why he said nothing as he saw one of the Strength-based third-promotion warriors, who was previously a part of Baron Maell's bodyguards, charged through a defensive line, each swing of his blunted sword taking a recruit down. "Stay firm," their sergeant shouted again and again, but the new recruits lacked the discipline to follow the order.

Instead, the second line moved forward, rushing excitedly to take down the attacker. Newly promoted, Takis recognized quickly. With their promotion complete, they believed themselves to be strong enough to take down the attacker.

Reality disagreed.

The ex-bodyguard took a step back, which allowed him to face only two of the attackers at the same time. Even as he retreated, every swing took down an attacker, usually with broken bones that needed to be healed.

A waste of mana and health, Takis tried to argue, but Euon was firm on that as well. According to him, pain was, and had always been, the most excellent teacher.

Looking at the performance of the squads that had been recruited a week ago, who had been following the orders with perfect discipline, Takis found out that it was hard to argue against.

He had been planning to handle that for longer, when one of the message stones buzzed. It was Zolast, calling him to the commanders' tent. He stopped watching the training, ignored his desire to fix every mistake he had discovered, and walked to the tent.

Zolast was already there, looking exhausted. "Any change in the strategy for the bunkers?" he asked.

"Still in progress, sir," Takis said as he grabbed a paper, and started drawing. "But, based on the initial plans, it's clear that six ballista per bunker is an underestimation It would be far better to have twelve each bunker to confidently take down an Agility-based approach, and even more for a Speed-based one."

"How about keeping the fast ones away? Maybe we can build some kind of response team to cut them off?"

"Difficult without more mages," Takis admitted. "I have thought about it, but unless we have a squad made of Speed-based warriors over level sixty that we can dedicate to it, it wouldn't work. There's nothing to prevent them from just moving away."

"Let's leave that for now, then," Zolast said with a sigh. "You're saying that we need twelve ballistas for every bunker?" Takis nodded, and Zolast continued. "It'll be expensive."

"Unfortunately," Takis said. "But, on the plus side, I'm sure such a thick defensive structure will be enough to seriously damage a flying fortress, maybe even take it down if we're lucky."

Zolast said nothing as he went through some calculations, before sighing in surrender. "How do you think it'll affect our deliveries to the military? The princess already started the recruitment of a new regiment, but she doesn't have the magic weapons to arm them. It's the opportunity we were waiting for. We can't miss it, even for the bunkers."

Takis would have disagreed, but it was clear that the deal was important for secrets too dangerous for Takis to know which was an intimidating thought considering the secrets he had access to, so he wisely didn't poke around.

Instead he answered: "Not as bad as you might expect. We have enough material to support the production for both. And, Limenta reported that two more forges started operating ahead of schedule. With the new allow they developed, the deliveries should be ready to go as soon as the princess accepts your deal," Takis said, though he was still tense.

"Tell me," Zolast said, picking up his hesitancy.

"I still have concerns about the sale. Once we start the deliveries, it'll be impossible to hide the scale of our production. They will realize that something is wrong. I'm afraid that they'll start searching for our hidden forges. If they do" Takis said, leaving it lingering. If that secret was revealed, they would be in big trouble.

To his surprise, Zolast chuckled. "Don't worry about that. Euon promised that he'll divert suspicions."

"If you say so, sir," Takis said with a sigh. He wanted to say that it was impossible to conceal production at such a scale, but Euon delivered too many miracles for Takis to doubt him now.

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