My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 62: The Heart of the Province

The destruction of Alaric Veyne’s counteroffensive opened the western road farther than Grand Marshal Rakhar Veyr had expected.

For the first time since the Viridian Expeditionary Army entered Edras, no organized Caldris field force immediately blocked the routes ahead. Scattered soldiers continued fleeing through the countryside, but the pursuit detachments had already broken every significant concentration they encountered.

Rather than waste more troops chasing individuals who no longer posed a military threat, Rakhar redirected his attention toward what lay beyond the battlefield.

Scouts were ordered to continue west along the roads used by the routed army, avoiding unnecessary engagements and reporting anything important enough to have some influence in the next stage of the campaign.

The earliest reports appeared ordinary. Farms became more numerous as the scouts traveled west, and the main road gradually improved from packed earth into a broad route maintained well enough to support heavy wagon traffic.

Smaller roads joined it from the north and south, while stone bridges replaced wooden crossings over several streams. Roadside markers appeared more frequently than those found around Brackenford, and abandoned carts showed that civilians had already begun moving ahead of the Viridian advance.

Almost every refugee group traveled toward the same western direction, carrying children, livestock, sacks of grain, and whatever belongings could be loaded onto wagons.

That pattern immediately drawn interest from Rakhar because roads always revealed where people placed importance.

Villages possessed tracks connecting nearby farms, while military posts usually controlled crossings or intersections. What the scouts were finding farther west was different. Several maintained roads bent toward the same region, and traffic increased with every mile.

Even without understanding every Caldris marker or settlement name, the meaning was difficult to miss. Something large stood ahead, and the surrounding countryside had been built to feed people, goods, and soldiers toward it.

By the second day, the forward units began encountering larger roadside stations and watch posts. Some had been abandoned after their occupants stripped away supplies, while others showed clear evidence that Caldris troops had passed through only recently.

Scouts also reported an increasing number of wagon tracks and larger groups of civilians moving west. One patrol followed the main road until it reached a long ridge overlooking the surrounding farmland. The commander expected another broad stretch of fields beyond it.

Instead, when he reached the crest, he found a wall stretching across the horizon and more buildings behind it than he could reasonably count.

The report reached Rakhar before midday while he was standing beside a captured Caldris wagon undergoing repairs.

A messenger rode into the temporary command position, dismounted before the animal had completely stopped, and approached with enough urgency that nearby officers immediately turned toward him.

He told Rakhar that the western scouts had discovered a city, and when Rakhar asked whether he meant another large town, the messenger shook his head and explained that the scout commander could not count the buildings visible from the ridge.

Rakhar stopped treating the discovery as another settlement report.

Within minutes, rough charcoal sketches were spread across a table. They were imperfect, but the scale was obvious. A broad defensive wall surrounded a dense urban center. Towers appeared at regular intervals, multiple major roads converged around the city, and farmland stretched in every direction beyond the walls.

The scouts had seen several gates, constant wagon traffic, and a noticeable concentration of soldiers along the defenses. Rakhar studied the drawings carefully before asking how closely the scouts had approached.

When told that they had remained on distant ridges and had not knowingly provoked the defenders, he approved and ordered an escort prepared so he could inspect the place himself.

Field Commander Varek questioned the decision, asking whether Rakhar truly intended to move so far forward personally.

Rakhar answered that he would not plan an assault against a city he had only seen as charcoal lines on stolen paper. Within the hour, he left the captured Caldris camp with a small escort of scouts and senior officers.

They followed the main western road only as long as necessary before moving through farmland and low woodland to avoid appearing as an obvious military column. The farther they traveled, the more organized the countryside became. Farms were larger than those around Brackenford, irrigation channels crossed some of the fields, and even the roadside shrines and boundary stones appeared better maintained.

Rakhar paid particular attention to the roads. They were not wandering paths connecting isolated communities.

One route led southwest, another turned north, and a much broader road continued west. Smaller roads repeatedly fed into them, creating a network centered on the same general region. By the time the escort reached the observation ridge, Rakhar already understood that whatever lay beyond it controlled more than a few surrounding villages.

Eastwatch dominated the land below.

The city stood several miles away, distant enough that individual people were difficult to distinguish but close enough for the scale of the fortifications to be unmistakable.

Thick stone walls enclosed a sprawling settlement, while towers rose at intervals along the defenses. Larger structures stood near the center, including one fortified complex that could only belong to a governing or military authority.

Smoke climbed from countless chimneys, and several gates remained active despite the visible preparations for war. Wagons continued entering the city while refugees were directed through controlled approaches outside the walls.

Rakhar remained silent as he studied the eastern defenses. Soldiers were visible along the walls, not standing shoulder to shoulder but present in enough numbers to show that the fortifications were actively manned. Workers moved between sections of the wall carrying timber and stone.

Carts transported supplies inward, and nearby families were abandoning farms to move toward the gates. Varek eventually remarked that the city was nothing like Brackenford, and Rakhar agreed without taking his eyes from the walls.

The humans were clearly preparing because the destruction of their counteroffensive had warned them that Viridian was still advancing.

A scout officer joined them and pointed toward the roads below, explaining that most civilian movement came from the east and southeast while other roads carried supply wagons and smaller military patrols.

The scouts had remained distant enough to avoid a direct confrontation, but they had already confirmed that several important routes passed close to the city. Rakhar crouched and unfolded one of the rough maps against the ground, asking where the roads led.

The northern and southern routes remained only partly explored, while the western road continued beyond the city into territory the scouts had not yet reached.

Rakhar looked from the road network back to the walls and concluded that this was the human center of power in the region. Varek asked whether he believed it was the provincial capital, and Rakhar answered that it almost certainly was.

They did not yet understand every detail of Caldris administration, but they did not need to.

Refugees fled toward the city. Soldiers concentrated there. Supplies moved inward. Major roads converged around its gates. Whatever title the humans used, Eastwatch clearly governed and defended the surrounding territory.

One younger officer expressed satisfaction at finally finding something important enough to destroy. Rakhar turned slightly and questioned whether destruction alone was the correct objective. Varek argued that taking the capital would remove the province’s center, but Rakhar remained unconvinced that the problem was so simple.

He stood and studied the countryside beyond the walls rather than focusing only on the city itself. Farmland covered the approaches, smaller settlements sat along the roads, bridges controlled important crossings, and the city clearly relied on a wider provincial system rather than existing in isolation.

Another officer argued for speed, pointing out that Alaric’s counteroffensive had just been destroyed and that Eastwatch could not have replaced hundreds of trained soldiers so quickly.

Rakhar acknowledged that the argument favored a rapid attack but immediately pointed eastward. Every mile Viridian marched west lengthened the supply route back toward Brackenford and, beyond that, toward the portal network.

If the army concentrated too heavily around Eastwatch while smaller human forces remained active to the north and south, those forces could strike wagon trains, roads, bridges, or isolated occupation troops.

Varek responded that Viridian could clear the surrounding territory first, but Rakhar pointed out the obvious cost.

Every day spent securing outlying towns gave Eastwatch more time to strengthen its walls, gather food, train militia, and request reinforcements from neighboring provinces. The problem became clearer once both possibilities were spoken aloud.

A rapid assault might reach Eastwatch before its preparations were complete, but concentrating too much strength against the city could leave the surrounding province uncontrolled.

A slower campaign could seize roads, bridges, towns, and farmland before the capital was isolated, but that same delay would make the city far harder to break.

Rakhar walked farther along the ridge while continuing to study the terrain. Several nearby villages had already been partially abandoned, yet fields remained planted and wagon traffic continued toward the city.

A mounted Caldris patrol briefly appeared on one road before disappearing behind a cluster of buildings. Rakhar observed that the humans were pulling people and resources toward the center, which Varek correctly noted would make Eastwatch stronger.

Rakhar added that concentrating everything inside the walls would also make the surrounding countryside weaker, meaning every defensive measure created a corresponding vulnerability elsewhere.

Another commander suggested surrounding Eastwatch immediately while sending separate columns outward to capture the rest of the province.

Rakhar did not dismiss the idea, but he warned that dividing the army before understanding how many troops the humans could gather might create several smaller problems instead of solving one large one. This was no longer a situation where one successful battle would determine everything.

There were multiple viable strategies, and each carried different costs in time, manpower, supply, and risk.

Until this point, the campaign had remained comparatively simple. Viridian established a foothold, secured Brackenford, tested local resistance, fought a human field army, and destroyed the first major counteroffensive. Each stage had allowed Rakhar to focus on the next immediate military problem.

Eastwatch changed the scale of the war because a city this large could anchor resistance across the entire province. It could store food, concentrate soldiers, organize militia, shelter refugees, and remain dangerous even if Viridian attempted to march past it.

The western roads concerned Rakhar almost as much as the walls themselves. They connected Eastwatch to whatever lay deeper inside Caldris, and if the kingdom possessed stronger armies elsewhere, those roads would eventually carry them east.

Varek asked how long royal forces might need to reach the province, but Rakhar could only answer that they did not know. The same uncertainty applied to troops from neighboring provinces. Time therefore seemed to favor Eastwatch, although Rakhar pointed out that every day of preparation also forced the city to consume more food while refugees continued entering and surrounding settlements weakened.

The Viridian officers remained on the ridge for most of the afternoon while scouts rotated between observation positions. They marked visible roads, rivers, bridges, outer settlements, and fortified points on increasingly detailed sketches. Rakhar prohibited anyone from approaching the walls unnecessarily.

He wanted observation, not a meaningless skirmish that might reveal too much about Viridian intentions before he had chosen a strategy.

As evening approached, lights gradually appeared inside Eastwatch. One by one, windows and streets illuminated behind the walls until the provincial capital seemed to glow against the darkening countryside.

One commander eventually asked whether Rakhar wanted the army assembled for an assault. Rakhar did not answer immediately because taking the city was no longer the only question. He needed to decide what happened to the entire province if Eastwatch fell, how the roads would be secured, how supply lines would be protected, how remaining garrisons would be handled, and how Viridian would respond if outside reinforcements arrived before the conquest was complete.

Rakhar finally told the officers that there would be no attack that night. The scouts would continue watching the city and every major road leading into it, while the main army waited for further orders.

When Varek asked what would happen the following day, Rakhar kept his gaze fixed on the illuminated walls and answered that they would decide how to take the province, not merely the city.

Long after most of the officers began returning toward the forward camp, Rakhar remained on the ridge studying Eastwatch and the web of roads spreading around it.

Thirty thousand Viridian soldiers gave him options, but choosing the wrong arrangement could squander the advantage they had earned through every previous victory.

The provincial capital had finally been found. The next problem was deciding how to make the entire province fall with it.

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