Defying ORDER (Alpha LitRPG Book 8) by Arthur Stone

Author:Arthur Stone [Stone, Arthur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 11

Moon Metal Mines

The “small” band Camai brought with him consisted of a hundred and six fighters. He also delivered quite a bit of specific loot from the cache, having followed my instructions to the letter. Some of those items that could not be easily obtained from forays into the Labyrinth would come in handy for both Kimi and me. Most of the rest quickly went to my new shudras right after they swore their oaths. In our prior communications, Camai strongly advised me against investing heavily in the new recruits until they did, but now that issue was finally resolved, and resolved successfully.

A massive one-time intake of loot can have adverse effects on health and pose significant risks to Balance. As he kept training the men, Camai tried mitigating the latter by preparing the fighters for their imminent power surge with relatively small infusions, but even with the help of painkillers, sedatives, and certain other medical tricks, the repercussions of a major upgrade would always be felt. For four days, the men stayed put, mostly lying in bed, absorbing the loot in small portions. Even then, without my advanced medical expertise, that much-rushed process could have stretched for at least a week or perhaps even two. But I needed my own praetorian guard up and running ASAP. The official Foreign Guard and whatever Ballonean troops Qash’Shak Bhayil could actually scramble would have to fend for themselves the best they knew how. In the grand scheme of things, they meant nothing to me, and not even I had enough loot to upgrade them all. Besides, flashing oodles of loot before the entire damn world—especially if you were in Ballonea, the land of opportunists and outright thieves—could present quite a few risks of its own.

That said, I did give quite a bit of the good stuff to Scown Drell as well—not to make a warrior out of him, of course, that would be an altogether impossible task, but to show goodwill and appreciation. In such situations, a little could go a long way, paying off in spades at a later date in a myriad different ways. Besides, the mission head would have to spend heavily on quite a few things, including local supplies and provisions, to make up for the shortfall of funds the Empire allowed me for my impossible task. In view of the fact that spending just about anything on the thousands of local troops under Admiral Yassen’s nominal command would essentially be a waste, I even suggested disbanding those units altogether, but Scown Drell dissuaded me. Making waves with such radical steps would not be advisable, that sly and experienced political animal told me. Better throw them a few pennies here and there, claiming the sheer lack of resources for not doing more. He was probably right. Appearances did matter.

On the fifth day of the preparations, I departed from the Foreign Corps’ camp near the capital, leaving Bhayil in charge and having given Drell clear instructions to try and keep the regimental commander as sober as possible.

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