"…"
"Okay…. So…. You are fucking telling me…. That not only did you not realized that they had not left…. Instead, just stayed hidden in random monster infested forest… Right near one of our key locations where our barracks and supplies are located…. And when you did noticed them, it was too late as they were straight up running towards the town…. And then they just FUCKING BURNED IT TO THE GROUND BEFORE THEN ESCAPING!?" – shouted the Godfrey at the communication orb.
"HOW?!"
"I'VE LEFT FOR A MOMENT WITH MY LEGION TO DEAL WITH THE ALLIANCE AND THE BLOODY MOMENT I WAS GONE, YOU SCREWED UP MORE THAN ONE TIME!?"
"HOW!?"
"…"
"General Porax…. I want a full explanation…. NOW!"
"Y-yes sir." – said the nervous general.
"…The….. The enemy aim wasn't our army…. No. Even when they had a chance to pick off our spread troops…. They instead went straight for the town."
"Their aim was clear…. They are only going after our supplies."
"They had burned everything and our equipment was either stolen or were completely destroyed."
"Not only that….. But the water source as well as food sources were infected with something… Presumably either poison or straight up plague….. We will need time to purify it all."
"…"
"God… DAMMIT!" – shouted Godfrey.
"…"
"What about Iron Will?"
"He…. He is looking for the Doctor…. But apparently he disappeared again." – said the general.
"By the looks of things, he hiding once again."
"…"
"Find him…. And observe him!" – said Godfrey.
"We can't have that lunatic go on any more rampage like that!"
"Use any means necessary to eliminate the fucker."
[Meanwhile: Underground vampire kingdom.]
"HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
"OH YOU CRAZY FUCKER!" – said laughing "Kid" while using communication device.
"So, you aimed for their supplies and even managed to sneak a bit of plague here and there as well? This will definitely cripple these bastards."
"Heh. I knew you would enjoy the news." – said Phantasia.
"…. But still, aren't you looking bit low at the empire?" – said "Kid" after stopping laughing.
"They may easily deal with your plague."
"Nah. I knew it." – said Phantasia.
"The plague and supplies wasn't my goal."
"It was to scare them."
"Fear, anger, confusion and chaos."
"After being a fucked up bastard for a long time, I know how to properly spread that stuff around and what is the best way to use them."
"Right now the empire is suffering from the lack of supplies…. So, what do you think would happened if the supplies they had on hand was just… "Disappearing" and their means of securing more was getting corrupted right in front of their eyes?"
"Do you know what kind of mindless could a horde of staving soldier have?"
"Or maybe the fact that they don't know where the enemies or where they could attack again?"
"There is also another factor."
"Pride."
"These guys are far too prideful for their own good…. And these kind of bastards are always best as self-destruction."
"Fear and panic are one of the best things is specializes at… So, trust me on this one. They will be playing like puppets in my palm."
"…"
"By the way, what about the thing I've proposed?"
"Oh, don't worry about it." – said "Kid".
"The merfolk princess was more than willing to work with us on this one."
[Few days later.]
"Fuck….. The hell is going on?!" – said Godfrey as he grabbed his head.
(In fighting amongst our troops had started….. All because of some idiots hoarding foods for themselves when we are already quiet short on them.)
(Not only that, some idiots even raided one of the villages under our control and stole the food from the farmers! We can't have farmers working at their best with their stomachs empty!)
"…"
(I've managed to somewhat push the alliance back and reclaim some of our lost territory, but now? Our own soldiers are having hard time maintaining the defenses, even with my direct support.)
(….)
"Hey, Iron Will. You hear me?" – asked Godfrey as he took out communication device and turned it on.
"…"
"Sorry for delay. I'm here." – replied Iron Will.
"Stop the search." – said Godfrey.
"You have a new job."
"Take some adventurers and look for hunting grounds, one with monsters that we could harvest edible food from."
"?"
"You sure?" – asked Iron Will.
"Yes….. Yes I'm sure." – said Godfrey with tired voice.
"I know that this bastard is still on the loose, but right now we need to prioritize getting new means of securing the food."
"And I don't need to tell you why."
"…."
"I understand." – said Iron Will before ending the call.
"…"
(Okay, next the general Porax. I need to have him deal with-)
"?"
As Godfrey took out the second communication orb, it suddenly started glowing.
(He is the one calling me?) – thought Godfrey as he picked up the call.
"What is it Porax?"
"…"
"Sir…. We have emergency…. Our supply ships…. They were destroyed." – said general Porax.
"!?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR SUPPLY SHIPS WERE DESTROYED?!" – shouted Godfrey, instantly snapping upon hearing the news.
"…"
"The supply ships managed to break through the sea monster barricade and were heading towards us…. But we received the news that the entire ship was blown up." – said the general.
"?!"
"They attacked our ships!? But what about the escort ships!? They should had- "
"Merfolk." – said the general Porax before the Son Of Glory could finish his question.
"They were spotted as they swam away after planting some explosives on our ships."
"The entire supply ship was sank and burned alongside all supplies it were carrying."
"Not only that, but our escort ships that also had additional soldiers and golems coming our way were also damaged by the explosives…. But that wasn't the main problem."
"Something happened to the sea monsters…. Apparently they suddenly went berserk."
"With the damage ships and monsters now on steroids, the ships carrying our reinforcements were forced to back away and return to the empire."
"…"
"What do you mean return to the empire?!" – shouted Godfrey.
"What about the supplies!? The reinforcements?! When either of those will arrive!?"
"…"
"They said that they are no longer able to sent any." – said the general.
"According to them, the sea travel is currently impossible, even with escorts."
"They need to deal with the sea monsters now or never."
"The situation was reported to the emperor himself as well…. But…"
"…"
"For the love of heavens…" – said Godfrey.
(I fucking knew it! Merfolk would show up!)
(But they destroyed our ships?! Did the vampires gave them some sort of new weapons?)
(And what is that about monsters going berserk!? They were already feral as it is, but now they are now full blown berserkers?!)
(I've heard about this weird and unknow poison of the organization.)
(The one that can make monsters go crazy.)
(They must had used this thing….. Fuck!)
(Without those ships carrying the supplies and reinforcements, we won't last here much longer.)
(The enemy plan is simple.)
(They want to starve us to death.)
(One by one they are destroying our supplies and any means of securing them.)
(Right now, our army is slowly starving…. And the only thing that could secure a large number of supplies was just destroyed by those traitorous savages.)
(… Even if we do secure new hunting grounds, producing enough supplies for our entire army here will take too much time…. We already starting to have incident popping up here and there because of the lack of supplies.)
(Mental fatigue and stress has been hitting our soldiers way too often because of this as well.)
"…"
(Fuck…. We are trapped.)
"…"
"…"
"Sorry, but I need to contact my father…. Please wait." – said Godfrey before ending the call and then walking towards the communication mirror, turning it on.
"…"
"Common…. Common…. Pick it- "
"!"
"Your holiness!" – said Godfrey as he bowed his head as soon as the call was picked.
"My son." – said the holy emperor.
"…"
"Your holiness… The situation- "
"I've heard about the ships." – said the holy emperor before then son of glory could finish speaking.
"I've already arranged necessary forces to deal with the problem."
"I've also assigned your sister, the justice to deal with this problem."
"!"
(Wait, already?! And he is also sending the eldest sister as well?!) – thought hopeful Godfrey.
"Really!? Then how long it would take for a next supply ship to arrive!?"
"…"
"Don't know…. I will send them as soon as possible when the path is cleared." – said the holy emperor.
"Your sister, Justice will also be joining up with you when the path would be opened up."
"…"
(Father isn't holding back at all? This is perfect! AT THIS RATE-)
"What about things on your end?" – spoke up the holy emperor.
"…"
"Not good…. If I'm honest…." – said the Son Of Glory as he started sweating.
"Our supplies were recently hit by the enemy…. Resulting in them being burned and turned into ashes… While our means of securing more food such as monster infested forests or farms were also hit, with the farms getting burned down and the monster forests getting infected with something, possible a plague."
"Our soldiers are starving."
"…"
"Then what about our grounds? How much did you conquered?" – asked the emperor with cold voice.
"…"
"We….. We are losing them." – said the Son Of Glory as his eyes started shaking with fear.
"I've originally stayed behind, as planned to protect our main base…. But as soon as the supplies were hit, I've went to the frontlines and managed to push back the alliance, take back the territory we had conquered before and even took over more of their territory…. However, the lack of supplies are starting affecting our soldier more and more…. Resulting in us starting to lose territory slowly."
"…"
"What about the artefact?" – asked the emperor.
"…"
"W-we….. We are still nowhere near its location…." – said the son of glory that dared to not look up.
"…"
"Remember your mission, my son." – said the holy emperor.
"Get that artefact at any cost."
"No matter how many fallowers you use, we need that thing."
"Are we clear?"
"…."
"Are we clear?"
"Y-yes….. I understand." – replied the Son Of Glory.
"Good." – said the emperor.
"Then don't disappoint me or the heavens."
"That is your divine duty."