Homesteading in a fantasy world

It took us two days to record down all the information. After a lengthy discussion with the generals and commanders, I left them to come up with battle plans for both sides. I hoped I was wrong, but as they worked on this, I needed to check on something.

There was a chance that the situation might not be as bad. Well, it was still quite bad no matter what, but if there was a way for an army to walk down this path, there was no way we were going to win this war.

So, I took off running. When I reached the town that we destroyed, I wasn’t even halfway to my destination. There was a decent forest in between, but there were plenty of paths for an army to take, so unfortunately, that wouldn't save us.

I continued more towards the east until I made it to the major river that separated the northern part of this continent from the southern. Goose was with me, but I didn’t let him get too far away from me.

Through his eyes, I was able to see what kind of terrain was on both sides of the river. The northern side was not suitable for an army. However, the southern portion would be good enough to bring in thousands upon thousands of soldiers.

They were going to use this path to get to us, and there was no way we could fight a retreating battle for nearly 500 kilometres to reach the other armies. We couldn't even use the river as an ambush point because the forest that was close to it was too sparse for an ambush. When it got dense enough for an ambush, we would be too deep into their territory, and with luck on their side, a large ambush like that wouldn’t work.

Now, if they didn't have this path to us, they would need to take a route that would take them much further south and would leave us only about 150 kilometres to retreat after our initial battle. Just in case, I started to head towards that location to make sure that the forest was thick enough. If they decided to go through there, it would be to our advantage as we could set up many traps and smaller ambushes to weaken their entire army.

It would be something I'd prefer because, even with all the luck in the world, we would have trapped the entire place so thoroughly that you'd need to burn it down to advance safely. Even then, with the right materials left in the forest, the smoke could become a deadly poison to anyone who was close to it. I continued to run at top speed, while Goose flew high above to give me an even better view.

I reached a seemingly simple place where there was a larger road that moved from south to north and a smaller road that went east. If the river path wasn't viable, this smaller road could be used by an army coming from the east to connect to the road network of the west.

If you followed this road northwest, by the end of it, you'd reach our capital. If you went further south, it wouldn't take long to reach the city-states we had conquered.

This road that went to the east wasn't the best, and further south there were a few more accessible and larger roads. But if the two armies united - the United Freeholds and the nation directly to our south, Frontier's Collective, one of our allies - would be able to combine with a bit of manoeuvring, it would give us a better chance.

I didn't think our enemies would let us do that. I was certain they were going to use this road I was currently standing on. If we didn't confront them, they'd just march north until they could see our capital. That's why we'd probably need to engage them here and pull them towards the south.

But none of this mattered as they had a perfect opportunity to stay north, next to the river, forcing all of our armies to fight individually. I spent two more days out here, getting an even better look at the land around me, trying to come up with a way to force their army to meet us further south.

I would've liked to keep surveying, but I wasn't going to find a miracle here. It was time to head back and see what others had come up with. I hope they had better luck. I didn't like to use this word, especially when the enemy could manipulate it to their advantage. I rushed back home, all the while looking up at Goose, wishing I could already ride him.

When I made it back and listened to what they came up with, I was disappointed. They had come to the same conclusion. Now, they did do an excellent job, and I wasn’t disappointed in their capabilities as they were better than I expected, but we still didn't find a clear way to victory.

If only I could convince the other two nations to march their armies up here through the portals. It would cost us a lot, but with the combined forces, we would be able to achieve victory, but even that would be a close call.

They would never accept leaving their nations vulnerable. And why would the enemy even want to engage us then? They would just burn and keep the two nations in our alliance, forcing us to go down there. But no nation would accept such a deal, especially when victory wouldn't be guaranteed.

I was certain that the enemy would be quite brutal to the civilians, which would basically make 2/3 of the army useless. They would have no reason apart from revenge to fight, and that wouldn’t last as long as the war did.

Unfortunately, rage has a time limit. The fury could only keep you going for so long, and after that, you could be too tired to do anything, especially hold the lines properly. No, the war will start with three different armies on both sides; that I was certain of.

Our allies would most certainly be willing to give a portion of their armies, but if we did that, then the enemy armies might actually engage if they have the advantage. I went to pore over the information Roger sent me in hopes of finding a way to deal with this problem.

I trained, discussed the problems with others, and continued to work through the paperwork, but I didn’t find any solutions before the rest of the alliance leaders and generals came through the portal to have this meeting.

I listened with half an ear while still continuing to think about this problem. "The threat is credible; don’t question it," I had to say when one of the nations started to doubt if this was even a problem. The entire room went silent because I had used enough energy infused in my words that if I had used a destructive ability, half the people here would be dead.

In six hours, other nations agreed that this was indeed a dire situation, but we also separated: the generals followed me to the war room, and the politicians stayed in the original meeting room, continuing to discuss the situation.

"Here’s all the information. We want your input, as I want to see what you come up with. Hopefully, it would help give a new angle that could perhaps work in finding a solution for a military victory in this war."

I had worked with these generals before when we were in the combined army, conquering the city-states. But even they immediately picked up on how cold my voice was, which seemed to make them more aware of how bad the situation actually was.

A day later, we still didn't have anything. It always came back to the northern path. If there wasn't one, we would have a lot more options, and some even looked promising.

The river was quite massive, almost 50 metres across on average, and that got even larger towards the sea. It was also quite fast-moving. "Wait," I leaned in towards the map to get a better view. The river and its surroundings were lower than the surrounding land.

I felt how the room went quiet; my mind was as clear as it ever was. "If a huge volume of water was released, it would follow the path of the river all the way to the sea. The area it would destroy would be quite wide, and it would cover all of the walkable paths an army could take."

My words were quiet, yet all could hear them. "That would be nice if that could happen, but no water mage could make that amount of water; you would need an astronomical amount." I didn’t even look up to see who had spoken. My mind was working overtime as I started to simulate with my abilities a new structure.

"We’re going to build a dam here," I showed them a point on the map. "It would need to be high, and we will need to start work now. It will be a difficult job, but we will also make it so that we can release the water. So, if they want to bring an army through that path, it would be killed by the surging water."