CH230 Minister of Ungentlemanly Warfare

***

After the meeting with his father and Jared, Alex called for the Regiment Commanders, gathering them together in the command tent where he brought them fully up to speed on the situation.

He revealed the presence of Earl Drake, who had been masquerading as Jared's adjutant, before moving on to brief the group on the details of his action plan.

With Earl Drake himself openly consigning to Alex's plan, none of the Regiment Commanders raised a single word of opposition.

Then again, even without Earl Drake's presence looming over the divisional council, it was unlikely that they would have opposed Alex in any case. The young General had already earned at least that much respect from them throughout the course of this campaign.

After the briefing, Alex quietly departed Exercitus Alexii, making for the Northern Dankrot Fort to meet up with Lord Marshall Lawson.

Before leaving, he entrusted the leadership of Exercitus Alexii to the Regiment Commanders. It was fortunate that Alex had not been heavily involved in the day-to-day management of the Division in the first place, so his absence created little disruption to their operations.

For important decisions that could not be agreed upon by the four Regiment Commanders collectively, the ultimate authority was of course consigned to Earl Drake, who still maintained the façade of being the Heavy Knight Commander's adjutant in the eyes of the rank and file soldiers.

Alex departed camp in the midst of a contingent consisting of Jared's Heavy Knight Company, alongside a mixed company of Fangs and specialist infantry led by the Magic Archer Colonel and the Crimson Berserker Major, who were officially assigned a special operation unit.

Fortunately, after the long weeks of campaigning, there were still enough spare horses within the camp for the mixed company to ride, effectively turning them into a formation akin to light cavalry.

The troop traveled swiftly, for Alex wished to reach the Fort as quickly as possible—ideally within a week.

Yet, interestingly enough, it was the light cavalry of the mixed company who struggled the most with maintaining this demanding pace.

While Alex, Udara, and the Heavy Knights rode horse-type Magic Beasts, the mixed company had only mundane -albeit elite- warhorses beneath them.

The difference was stark. The endurance and stamina of the Magic Beasts far outstripped those of even the finest trained warhorses, forcing the group to halt for rest more often than Alex would have preferred. Still, there was no helping it.

Even so, they managed to arrive at the Northern Dankrot Fort within six days of tireless travel.

Unfortunately, upon arrival, Alex learned that Lord Marshall Lawson had already left the fort. The Marshall had headed back into Fury heartlands, taking command of the combined forces of the Fury Army and the private legions of the family's Fief Lords in order to confront the Wildkin incursions from the north.

Although the Wildkin raiding parties descending from the Ironmourn Desert that year were relatively smaller than those of previous years, that did not mean the Furies enjoyed much reprieve. The forces of the realm still had to be stretched carefully in order to counter the raids.

Thus, Lord Marshall Lawson had far more on his plate than merely focusing on Kellerman's sudden raid.

'The Kellermans chose a truly opportune time to attack,' Alex mused grimly.

Due to the fact that the Northern Dankrot Fort did not belong to the Fury Family, but instead to Earl Drake personally, command of the fortress inadvertently fell into Alex's hands. As the Earl's heir, and more importantly, the highest-ranking military officer present as a Divisional General, his authority could not be questioned.

This time, however, Alex had already prepared himself for the burden. He did not complain, but instead began issuing orders without hesitation.

The first was to appoint Jared as the acting proxy commander of the fort on his behalf. Once that was settled, he moved on to his second directive—ordering the Array Master, supported by the Runesmiths and every available mage within the fortress, to begin constructing a series of runic formations arrays around the base.

At least two of these were standard military-grade Array Formations, but Alex had them upgraded with the help of OmniRune, which had refined them as part of its ongoing self-learning process.

Drawing on the programming principles of his past life, the AI had streamlined the designs, cutting out redundancies and improving efficiency. The result was a significant 20% increase in potency—without making the formations any more difficult to inscribe.

On top of these improvements, Alex added another couple experimental formations of his own design—developed with OmniRune's assistance—that he hoped could tip the scales in critical moments.

His only concern lay in their execution. These experimental formations were so complex that even within OmniRune's simulation environment, they remained purely theoretical. Not even Alex himself had succeeded in drawing them functionally.

Still, the problem was not with the theory itself but with the raw strength and mastery required to bring them into reality. Fortunately, the Array Masters stationed at Dankrot Fort were more adept Array Masters than he was, so Alex believed they would be able to succeed where he failed.

Alongside these preparations, Alex also ordered minor adjustments to the terrain surrounding the fortress, subtly reshaping the defenses to make any direct assault costlier for an enemy.

Once the fort's troops and defenses were properly delegated, Alex turned his attention to the soldiers he had brought with him.

The Heavy Knights were straightforward enough—they would remain with Jared, reinforcing the defense of the fortress.

The Fangs, however, along with the specialized infantry trained to operate alongside them, gave Alex pause. He had different plans for them.

The more Alex considered the Fangs' role within the Fury Army, the more they reminded him of the elite special operations units from the militaries of his past life.

Their very presence, even their discipline carried the same weight as the Operators he once met—men who had helped test one of his company's more experimental products for the DoD.

'If I am already bringing technology from my past life into this world,' Alex thought with a wry grin, 'then why not bring military techniques as well?'

His mind then recalled a famous memorandum from his previous world, penned by the Prime Minister of one of its greatest superpowers; words which had echoed across countless pulp novels and screenplays since then, etched into history as a philosophy of war.

"Enterprises must be prepared, with specially-trained troops of the hunter class, who can command a reign of terror through unconventional and ungentlemanly warfare."

"As providence would have it," Alex murmured with a soft chuckle, "the Fangs are indeed Hunter-Class troops. Perfect candidates to be reshaped into an unconventional force for ungentlemanly warfare."

With that in mind, he summoned Colonel Conrad Horst, the Magic Archer, and Major Aldrich Jaeger, the Crimson Berserker, to pass on his instructions.

By the time Alex had finished issuing his orders and laying out his plans, night had already fallen. Exhaustion weighed heavily on his body, but rest would not come so easily.

He had a gnawing premonition—one that told him he would soon need the Voidheart Core. If so, then he had no choice but to push himself harder, to advance its development as much as possible within the next day.

The following day would be consumed by final preparations before the Fangs' deployment, leaving him with no spare time afterward.

Resolving himself, Alex stepped into his Sanctuary Pocket Space for the first time in weeks.

And there, an unexpected sight greeted him.

~Crack~

A sharp sound split the silence as something shattered—along with the space surrounding it.

***

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