TtOW! - Chapter 33: The Heart of the Province

The history of the Legion is unique in that it is not one of constant victories.  In the Age of Heroes and in civilizations outside of the Empire, we observe time and time again that defeat means death for a civilization.  When all a society’s resources have been concentrated into individual champions, the loss of those champions is a loss that cannot be recovered from.  The society will be left completely vulnerable, at the mercy of its enemies.  It simply will not have the time or resources to produce another champion capable of surpassing the one that failed.

The Legion is different.

The Legion does not require high levels to be effective, so the Legion’s effective level can be restored fairly easily.  What makes the Legion effective is its specialization.  However, this does mean it is occasionally caught off guard by its foes.  But since the Legion can restore its effective levels, it can recover from these losses, build new armies to try again.

And above all, it can learn from its failures.

And no instance demonstrates this as well as the Battle of Dimindium Pendem Forest.

The Dimindium Pendem Forest is named, of course, for the Dimindium Pendem tribe.  A group of people that scarcely grow taller than a human child, but without the stout endurance of the dwarves.  A weak and timid folk who are thus rarely mentioned in official histories or epic tales.

The perfect people to conquer, or so it appeared to one Decimus Sornatius Cerularius.

Consul Cerularius led three full legions into the forest and lay claim to the lands.  The Dimindium Pendem did not appear to resist, approaching the consul in humility and cooperation.  However, they had no cities or fortress within which Cerularius could stay.  He was forced to make camp within the forest itself.

And that was when the trouble began.

Each and every night, Dimindium Pendem began to harass and raid Cerularius’s camp.  Quiet and stealthy infiltrators slipped past the guards, sabotaging supplies and slitting the throats of sleeping legionnaires.  Projectiles cast with inhuman aim struck those on watch from hands unseen.  Foraging parties were constantly ambushed.

It was not long before Cerularius’s legions were starving and on edge.

It was at this point that the Dimindium Pendem approached Cerularius once more, claiming these were the actions of a rival clan.  They offered to take Cerularius to a safe location, their refuge in times of great danger.  With little other choice, Cerularius agreed.

But it was a trap.

The Dimindium Pendem lead him along rough and narrow trails, where the legionnaires got separated from one another.  And then they attacked in force, overwhelming the scattered and starving soldiers.

Cerularius never returned from the forest.  And three legions vanished at the hands of the smallest and weakest race they had ever encountered.

From then on, the Legion focused heavily on logistics and fortifications.  Anytime it advanced into a new region, it would first build a network of forts and roads, centered on a mighty citadel.  In this way, it would render itself immune from harassment, and build out clear and protected lines of transit to quickly respond to highly mobile raiders.  From then on, the Legion had to be defeated in the field, not in their stomachs.

The next time the Legion approached the forest, the Dimindium Pendem found themselves facing walls of enchanted stone holding endless stores of food, watchtowers all around, and legions quickly responding to any significant assault.  Each of the clans was quickly forced to surrender or else flee the region.

The Legion wins in the end, as the saying goes.

-The History of the Empire, by Hostus Tettidius Clodian

***

NSLICE-00P once again failed to notice a missing brick in the road, and so planted into the ground with a clang.  Ateia and Taog glanced at her with worried looks.

“Seero…are you alright?”

NSLICE-00P was not alright.  Her organic components were significantly less capable than she had imagined.  She not realized just  how little they had been responsible for until now…and so just how inexperienced at acting independently they were.  A situation that seemed to increase her heart rate and cortisol levels.

“Response: This unit is fine.  There is nothing wrong.”

Ateia frowned.

“But…this is the seventh time already…”

“Insistent Response: Nothing is wrong.”

“Well…if you say so.”

Within the Monster Hangar, her other comrades also spoke up.

“Boss-queen, what is going on?  Are you…experiencing weakness-vulnerability, yes yes?”

Rattingtale rubbed his paws together, his eyes lighting up.

“Insistent Response: Nothing is wrong.  This unit is simply conducting experimentation and calibration, and can restore prior efficiency at any time.”

Rattingtale’s face fell.

“I-I see…that is good-fortunate, I suppose…”

Her organic components again started to activate organic combat procedures, despite the lack of hostiles in the area.  A notable inefficiency she would have to address.  That she would require a great deal of experimentation and calibration to address, apparently.

Well, at least her cybernetic side had the opportunity to run its simulations in peace…

She stopped walking for a second as she reviewed the logs.

Her cybernetic half had logged its observations of the organic half’s performance in great deal…and was supposed to run simulations to develop new contingency protocols as a result.  The simulations had gone as far as extrapolating what might occur in different combat scenarios based on the data from the organic half, but there was a problem.  The simulations stopped there.   There were no new contingencies, only attempts to apply previous protocols.  In fact, even the combat scenarios were surprisingly limited, just slight variations of previous fights.

These simulations were noticeably less thorough and innovative than she had expected.

It seemed her organic components were not alone in unexpected deficiency.  She had not realized just how much her AI relied on the organic hardware when running simulations.

Both halves of her would require upgrades if they were to operate independently.

She went ahead and reintegrated her two halves.  She had gathered enough data for the day, she now needed her full capabilities to analyze the results and come up with suitable countermeasures.

***

That night, as the group was eating dinner, NSLICE-00P walked over to the pair.  She looked into her inventory and tried to pull out the parchment from the town.  She found that while it had to contact her core to store, she could retrieve it anywhere on her person.

In fact, she could apparently make it appear anywhere within range of her Dungeon Field Generator.

But that was beside the point for the moment.  She made it appear in her hand and extended it to Ateia.

“Seero, what’s up?”

“Requesting Assistance: This unit has determined current translation methods do not apply to written word.  Requesting assistance in this field.”

Ateia tilted her head.

“You’re saying…you can read?”

“Clarification: Affirmative in regards to local language.”

Ateia and Taog glanced at each other once more.  Taog frowned.

“She can speak wulver…but can’t read Imperial?  Well…I guess that’s not that unusual…if she was a local…”

Meanwhile Ateia took the parchment.

“I see, well we can start teaching you then.  Um, for now, would you like me to read this for you?”

“Affirmative.”

Ateia looked at the parchment.

“Got it.  Well, this is your basic status.  Nothing major, just your name, species, level, and whether or not your name is on any Imperial watchlists.”

Ateia then tilted her head.

“Name: NSLICE-00P?  Oh, that’s…an interesting spelling?  So it’s zero, not Seero?”

“Acknowledgement: That is correct as far as the official designation.  Colloquial designations may be utilized as convenient.”

“So…Seero is alright?”

“Affirmative.”

Ateia nodded.

“Got it.  Next then…human huh?”

Taog jumped and his eyes widened.

“Wait, really?”

Ateia narrowed her eyes at him.

“Taog…why are you so surprised?”

“That’s….I mean…n-nevermind, just keep reading!”

Ateia stared at him a moment longer before turning back to the parchment.

Then it was her turn to jump, her eyes widening.

“Wait, Seero, you’re only level 26?!  I mean, that's much higher than us but still, isn't that low for a knight?”

Taog’s eyes widened once more at that.

“Correction: This unit’s level has increased since then.”

Ateia and Taog stared at each other with wide, trembling eyes.

“How is that…how did you…”

Ateia shook her head.

“Seero…how are you so strong at that level?”

“Answer: This unit’s cybernetic implants were designed for state of the art combat against non-standards.”

Ateia trembled a bit.

“Um…”

She looked over NSLICE-00P, thinking back on their interactions.  Her eyes widened a bit more.

“Does it…have to do with the armor?  That you can’t remove?”

“Affirmative.”

“Oh…um…”

Ateia shook her head.

“L-Let’s get started on the reading lesson.”

“Affirmative.”

As NSLICE-00P walked over to look at the parchment with Ateia, Ateia whispered to herself.

“Seero…what happened to you?”

Taog meanwhile was clutching his head.

NSLICE-00P…was a level 26 human when she took on an entire wulver incursion and won?

How…was that possible?

Even a fully-fledged knight would have struggled in that case.  NSLICE-00P would have been a low level knight at best.  The wulver should have run right over her.

What could it possibly mean?

Just…who was this girl?!

***

And eventually, the group crested the final hill before their destination.  Ateia smiled.

“There is is!  Castra Turannia!  The Legion’s main base in this province.”

Castra Turannia, the heart of Imperial Turannia.

It was first and foremost, a mighty fortress, standing atop a large hill.  Massive stone walls surrounded barracks, supply depots, and a huge keep.  The fortress walls had towers and protrusions at regular distances, ensuring the defenders would have no blind spots to fire down on their foes below.  The towers each had ballista or catapults set up on each, ready to provide heavy bombardment.  Even from this distance, NSLICE-00P could register powerful mana from the fortress, hinting at the layers and  layers of enchantments laid upon it.

On the slopes and valleys around the hill, a city sprawled out.  A relatively small city by NSLICE-00P’s standards but quite large for the province.  Some parts were built in precise Imperial fashion, solid stone laid out in standardized grids.  Other parts were haphazard sprawls of mostly wood, where the locals had gathered under the protection of the Legion in ages past.

Beyond the city, the hills and forests finally came to an end.  A flat plain stretched out for a bit, covered in farmland and smaller settlements where the city’s food was grown.

Ateia frowned and squinted her eyes.

“Hey Taog, Seero, you see something going on at the far end of the city?”

“Hm, looks like something’s happening, but I can’t tell from here.”

And upon the main road through this area, a large crowd was moving out of the city.

No, not a crowd.

An army.

NSLICE-00P zoomed in, focusing on the group.  Soldiers were marching in neat and standardized columns, walking to the beat of drums and horns.  Banners flew above the columns, blowing in the rainy wind.  The soldiers themselves were diverse.  NSLICE-00P observed soldiers several times larger than a standard human, some with horns or fur or other bestial figures, carrying massive metal shields or gigantic swords and warhammers.  There were short and stocky figures, driving wagons carrying ballista and other machines of war.  There were pikemen, halberdiers, thin figures with two swords strapped to their backs.  There were figures with staves topped with glowing crystals along with archers and crossbowmen.  There were figures dressed in white with red symbols on their clothing, and there were calvary and light infantry screening the flanks.  But all of them were clearly of the same organization, split into small squads which each had the same balance of the different figures, at least one of each type.  They all wore solid metal armor, ranging from heavy plate for the larger soldiers to scale and chainmail for some of the lighter troops, but within each type of armor every soldier’s kit appeared the same.  Mass-produced to an exacting standard, as well as a pre-industrial society can manage.  Each bore the same markings, each wore clothing of the same color and material.

This was the Legion, the true Legion.  The organization that ended the Age of Heroes and Blood and put a permanent stop to the tyranny of the demon lords.  The method by which humanity overthrew the ageless elves and established themselves as the dominant power in this corner of the world.

And they were marching out of the fort, heading out towards places unknown.

Well that didn’t much matter to NSLICE-00P.  She had already established that the Empire did not match any nation she had on record, so seeing the Legion as an army with a novel organization simply provided additional confirmation.  And the movements of the Empire’s armies were largely irrelevant to her current mission, given the incredibly low probability they would be interacting with any organization she was affiliated with.  She was interested in seeing a local military force in action as it might help her adapt her combat protocols for local conditions, but she was not about to follow a third-party military force solely for that purpose.  She might be allied with two citizens of the Empire, but she ultimately had no affiliation with that nation, after all.

“Observation: It appears a large military force is marching out of the base.”

Ateia and Taog glanced at each other.

“That must be the comitatenses, but where are they headed?  We haven’t heard of anything…unless they heard about the incursion?”

Taog shook his head.

“They’d be heading this way for that, clearly they're headed south.”

Ateia frowned.

“South?  Why south?  That’s the safe part of the province.”

Taog shrugged.

“Relatively speaking, they still get raids from across the sea, right?”

The two rubbed their chins before Ateia shrugged.

“Well, we won’t find out here.  Maybe we’ll hear about it in town.”

Taog nodded, and the group continued forward.

And so NSLICE-00P made her entrance into the Empire’s seat of power in Turannia.

Author’s Note:

To be clear on what’s happening, the Empire’s status reading tool only ended up reading her personal status.  In fact, most Analyze abilities would.  I mean, why wouldn’t they?  There’s never been anyone with two statuses, after all.  Even if you read a dungeon master it’s going to show their personal status, not their dungeon management screen.  It’s only showing the ‘human’ part of the ‘human/dungeon core/automata’ hybrid because they haven’t fully figured it out on the backend haha.  Analyze abilities aren’t necessarily perfect, after all, so its reading the part it can.

Anyways!

What will happen as NSLICE-00P heads into the capital of the province?  Will Ateia and Taog successfully join the Exploratores?  Just where is the Legion headed?  Tune in next time, to find out!