A kingdom readies for battle

The next few days you fall into a routine, handling affairs in your newfound home. Having several more experienced rulers to advise you makes adapting much easier, and both Sella and Kallista are happy to teach you how to rule with a light hand.

Unfortunately, you also learn that your confidence in your military situation might be a bit misplaced. The two former alliance kingdoms might be outnumbered by your three human kingdoms’ troops, but having been bordering the demon lord has given them better quality than yours can muster. The addition of the dwarves levels things a bit, but you would rather not get into a grinding battle, since you still need enough left to fight the demons afterwards.

In the end, you decide that showmanship and trickery will need to play a bigger part than you originally thought. Fortunately, you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Coming from an entirely different world gives you an advantage of knowledge that will be hard for them to counter.

You just hope it will be enough. Every time you review a unit, you see mostly young men and women your age and younger. Knowing that you and your commanders will have to give orders that will almost certainly get some of them killed is a tough burden.

You’re also surprised by your popularity. You don’t know if it’s you, your growing power, or the fact that you’re surrounded by beautiful women, but every soldier seems to be happy to fight for you.

Of course, Queen Sella has an answer for that. “It’s two things, Josh. First off, you’ve become something of a hero figure. You came in and heroically overthrew a tyrant, and you’re loudly proclaiming you want to destroy the evil that has threatened us for a long time. It doesn’t hurt that you cut a quite dashing figure.”

You blush at her comment, and she laughs. “The other is, you’re young, like them. You don’t back down from fights, or hide behind others. You earned a lot of respect by going out yourself and forging alliances. The dwarves joining us convinced a lot of people, since dwarves are famously independent.”

You nod, and thank her for her insight. You also informed her of Maya’s pregnancy, which caused gales of laughter. You’re pretty sure you heard her husband laughing as well. She congratulated you, saying she was surprised it took so long.

A few days after the conversation, a messenger arrived, bearing news that the scouts had found the enemy main forces. It seems that they had already crossed the border, and, led by Halid, they were pushing directly towards your capital. You smile. They did exactly what you hoped, and if you moved fast, you could intercept them at an advantageous location.

You called for your unit leaders and began to give marching orders. With any luck, you would have the first battle by the end of the week. Time to get the girls ready. You all had a part to play.