Absolute Mana Dominion: All My Talents Are SSS

Chapter 54: 54 - Preparations

The report reached Greymoor before sunset.

Adrien was called into his mother’s study less than five minutes later, and when he entered, Garrick was already standing beside the table with a folded map spread across it. Evelyne sat opposite him, reading the same piece of paper for the second time.

Judging by her face, the contents had not improved.

Adrien closed the door behind him. "How bad is it?"

Evelyne placed the report on the table. "Arquenay is mobilising."

Adrien pulled out the chair beside her. "How many?"

"We don’t know yet," Garrick answered. "Our Rangers spotted several companies leaving the main estate, and more troops are being recalled from smaller posts. They’re gathering supplies as well."

"So Gaspard isn’t trying to scare us."

"No, my lord." Garrick placed one finger over Arquenay territory on the map. "If this were a show of force, he wouldn’t be recalling patrols or loading supply wagons. He’s preparing to move an army."

Adrien leaned back and exhaled through his nose. "That was quick."

"You sent his son’s body back to him," Evelyne said. "I wasn’t expecting him to spend a week thinking about it."

"Fair."

She gave him a tired look. "I’m not blaming you."

"I know."

Adrien looked down at the map again. Greymoor suddenly seemed very small compared to everything surrounding it.

"Alright. What do we actually have?"

Garrick had clearly been waiting for that question. He pulled another sheet from beneath the map.

"Ninety-two Awakened we can put into a fight without stripping every village and road under Clairmont protection."

Adrien looked up. "That’s it?"

"That’s what remains after the fall of the house, desertions, casualties and everything that has happened since." Garrick’s voice remained steady. "Thirty-eight are Knights. Fourteen Rangers. Ten Mages. Six Spellblades. Five Wardens. Four Healers. The remainder are specialised Paths or people better suited to support than direct combat."

Evelyne tapped the page. "And experience?"

"That’s the larger problem. Twenty-seven have seen serious combat," Garrick continued. "Another thirty have enough training that I trust them to hold formation if somebody is shouting at them. The rest are recruits or men who have spent most of their lives guarding roads, warehouses and gates."

"So ninety-two on paper," Adrien said. "Maybe sixty who won’t panic, when let’s say... eight hundred people start running toward them."

Garrick’s expression tightened slightly. "I would phrase it more generously, my lord, but essentially, yes."

Evelyne folded her arms. "How many can Arquenay bring?"

"House Arquenay is smaller than most of the Great Houses, but they can still put several hundred Awakened into the field. If Gaspard empties everything he has, I would expect between seven and eight hundred."

Adrien stared at him. "That is a very large number compared to ours..."

Evelyne almost smiled despite herself. "Unfortunately, we’re the smaller number."

Adrien leaned over the map. "Then we can’t fight them like an army."

Garrick nodded immediately. "That was going to be my recommendation."

He pointed toward Greymoor.

"The estate itself is our best position. The roads narrow here and here, and the ground rises before reaching the outer wall. They cannot use their full numbers at once unless we allow them to surround us."

"What about the villages?"

"We evacuate anyone directly between Arquenay and Greymoor," Evelyne said. "Food, livestock, medicine, anything useful comes inside the defensive line. I don’t want civilians becoming leverage."

Adrien nodded. "Do it."

Garrick moved his finger to the western approach. "I’ll put most of the Knights here. Shields and polearms. Our Wardens can reinforce the position and the outer gate."

"How useful are five Wardens against that many people?"

"Very, if I don’t waste them." Garrick looked at Adrien. "They won’t stop an army by themselves, but they can make thirty men considerably harder to move. Walls, shields, gates. That’s what they were made for."

"And the Mages?"

"Behind the first line. I would rather have them casting from prepared positions than trying to duel enemy Mages in the open."

Adrien considered it. "Rangers on the walls?"

"Most of them. Four stay outside as scouts until the enemy gets too close. I want warning before Arquenay reaches us."

Evelyne glanced toward Garrick’s list. "Healers?"

"The cellar beneath the eastern wing can become a treatment area. It’s protected, has two entrances and enough room for beds."

Adrien stared at the map while they talked.

Ninety-two.

He had fought groups larger than himself before. Wolves, slavers, Léon’s men. Every time, there had been a way to break the problem into pieces.

Eight hundred was different.

Even if half of them were weak, there were simply too many bodies.

’Lightning Bolt can hit several people at once. Winter’s Reach can control an area. Ice Wall can split formations.’

None of that turned ninety-two into eight hundred.

"What about everyone who isn’t Awakened?" Adrien asked.

Garrick hesitated. "We have perhaps forty people capable of helping without becoming a liability. They can carry ammunition, move wounded, operate simple defensive equipment and reinforce barricades. I would strongly advise against putting them in the front line."

"Agreed."

Evelyne looked at Adrien. "You’re thinking about how many you can kill."

He glanced at her. "Was it that obvious?"

"You’re your father’s son. Unfortunately."

Garrick pretended not to hear that.

Adrien rested both hands against the table. "I’m thinking that even if I kill fifty, that still leaves seven hundred and fifty people."

"Which is why the battle has to be fought at the wall, where their numbers won’t matter as much. The road and the prepared positions should slow them down before they reach us."

Adrien looked toward him.

Garrick continued, "My lord, you just awakened. Your job is to stand outside the gates and prove it."

"Wasn’t planning on it."

"I am relieved to hear that."

Evelyne gave Adrien a look that suggested she was considerably less convinced.

He ignored it.

"What about you?" Adrien asked her. "You’re fighting."

It wasn’t really a question.

Evelyne leaned back. "Obviously."

"Mother—"

"Don’t."

Adrien stopped.

"I’m a Mage, Adrien. I’ve spent most of your life managing estates and stopping your father from spending money like it offended him, but I haven’t forgotten how to cast." She tapped the table. "If someone marches an army toward my children and my home, I’m not sitting in a bedroom waiting to hear whether we won."

Adrien considered arguing for roughly two seconds.

"Fine."

"That was surprisingly easy."

"I’ve learned when I’m wasting my time."

Garrick cleared his throat. "Then we should begin immediately. If Arquenay moves tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we may have less than two or three days before their advance reaches Greymoor."

That changed the room.

Few days.

"Vikir will have to hurry, then... but we have to prepare ourselves in case no one arrives."

Evelyne’s expression hardened, but she nodded. "And if help comes?"

"Then I’ll be pleasantly surprised."

Garrick gathered the reports. "I’ll begin moving the troops tonight. The Wardens and Ritualists can start on the defensive positions before morning."

Adrien pushed himself away from the table. "I’ll help with the walls. Ariane can rest tonight, then I want to know how much Winter’s Reach she can still manage tomorrow."

Evelyne stood as well. "I’ll handle the evacuations and supplies. Food first, then medicine, then everything else."

For a moment, none of them moved.

The numbers were still sitting between them.

Ninety-two against perhaps eight hundred.

Adrien looked at the map and finally understood how thin the margin really was.

"Well," he said, "we’re fucked."

Garrick’s mouth tightened.

Evelyne sighed. "An elegant military assessment."

"Doesn’t make it inaccurate."

"No," she admitted as she picked up the reports. "It really doesn’t."

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