Chapter 350: Twenty Questions

The Generals had made an actual list, a few dozen questions that they wanted answers to, as well as a sheet of inventory that they had already checked for before they entered the mess hall.

Karl could see that they had already checked the munitions reserves, the supply tents, spare weapons and sleeping gear, as well as dozens of other items, right down to the maintenance of the walkways between the dorm tents.

Karl hadn't realized that there were even regulations on most of these things, but from what he could see in their documents, there wasn't anything in the camp that the army didn't have a regulation or checklist for.

"First, are either of you in the nonstandard sleeping areas outside of the main camp?" General Stonewall asked.

"I am." Karl confirmed.

"Have you had any flooding or excessive mud issues with your sleeping area?" The General asked.

"Oh, that area. No, I'm in an elevated sleeping situation in the stand of trees just beyond those. If you look out the door and pay close attention, you can see the walls of my sleeping unit about five metres off the ground." Karl explained.

"You sleep in the trees? Is that an innate fondness of your class? I have heard that many Elites have particular tendencies due to their advancements."

Karl shook his head. "Yes, it's because of my class, but not a mental quirk. One of my bonded beasts is a Bloodbath Spider, and she excels in creating large-scale webs, including silk sheets that can be used to create sleeping quarters.

That is where my group is staying now. It is better to be together when an alarm is sounded at night, so we don't have to look for stragglers.

The webs are Commander Rank monster silk, and they serve as a primary defensive device as well, so there is no loss of safety in our arrangement."

"I take it that this has been approved by prior Regional Supervisors?" The General asked.

"Regional Supervisors, Battalion Commanders, and even High Clergy." Karl agreed.

"That's good enough for me. Now, as a Commander Rank Elite, what are both of your opinions on the effectiveness of the continued artillery presence on the border?"

Karl shrugged. "It's loud, but it helps keep the Hill Giants far enough off that we have time to form up when an attack starts. Without that constant harassment, they would definitely form up closer to our lines."

Morgana nodded. "Here, their primary purpose is deterrent, as the direct blasts are less likely to cause significant casualties against these targets than they are against Awakened Rank or Common monsters. I know that isn't the answer that most of the military wants to hear, but with regular munitions, you can't really expect them to do much to a Commander Rank Giant."

"So, your consensus is that it would be better to keep them active on the line than to remove them and redeploy them against softer targets?" General Stonewall asked.

They both shrugged. "Where they're needed most is above our pay grade. But we can say with some certainty that they're not useless here."

General Stonewall chuckled. "Excellent answer. Alright, next is about supplies. Are there any particular shortages that you have noticed?"

Morgana looked at the buffet that the cooks were setting up. "Well, I wouldn't call it a shortage, but if it's possible to get at least some raw ingredients here to make fresh food, it would be appreciated by the troops. Too much canned, shelf stable everything is hard on morale. Even the bread is canned, and that can be made from shelf - stable ingredients here in the camp.

We had a barbecue the other day, and you would think that the soldiers had never seen food before." She informed the Generals.

The General laughed. "That's the story of soldiers everywhere. The food always sucks, and the opportunity for fresh meat and vegetables is far too rare. But how did you manage a barbecue?"

Karl raised his hand. "That would be me. One of the secondary abilities of my class is to store food for my beasts in a separate space. Sometimes there is a bit of extra that is suitable for human consumption, so I will pull it out and share it with the others. This time it was one of the giant pigs that I grabbed for Hawk from the Frost Giant nation."

The General looked confused for a second. "Just how big is this pet in question?"

"The pig was claimed by the Dragon Hawk, so about ten kilos, give or take? I've never actually weighed him. But about normal-sized for a Dragon Hawk, large for a normal bird." Karl replied with a shrug.

"And he claimed an entire giant pig? An Awakened beast that weighs over two tonnes?" The General asked.

"More than one actually, but that's a whole other story. He's very protective of things that he believes are his food."

Morgana laughed, and the Generals smiled. "You make it sound as if they're your children."

"They are in a way. We share a mental link, so I know everything that they're thinking, and they seem to be smarter than other magical beasts of their type. They don't have any problems understanding humans, and they can form more creative answers than half of the people I meet, though the answers can be a bit predictable." Karl explained.

"Predictable?" Karl nodded. "Hawk will be hungry, and he hates all things cold or water magic. Rae has a very tortured artist dark vibe going on, and Thor just wants to meet new people, while Remi is somewhat selective, with a bias towards people who are more attuned to the Elements."

The Generals both looked down at their notes. "I don't have anything about this Remi before you arrived here. Are they very newly bonded?" Karl shook his head. "No, she's just a bit shy, and she's a Spirit Snake, a cold-blooded monster, so she's not a big fan of anything cold. Now that we're on the Hill Giant border, she has been coming out more."

General Jackson flipped the pages of their investigative report. "Wonderful, we can start there. Do you believe the weather here is causing major issues with the war effort?"

Karl chuckled. "You really do have a question for everything, don't you? No, the weather here has been cooperative since I arrived. This portion of the battle is not suffering from the weather, and certainly not in the way that the Frost Giant border is."

General Stonewall nodded. "The Mountain Giant border has been receiving torrential rainfall lately for no apparent reason. We suspect that it is magical, but it is causing major issues with the efforts to move through the mountains to find their hiding spots."

"The Mountain Giants are in hiding?" Morgana asked.

"We could only wish. No, we've been having issues trying to track them as they retreat between engagements. Without that information, it is exceptionally difficult to guess what part of that treacherous terrain will be the target of the next major offensive.

But we should focus on this portion of the Hill Giant border first. We are hoping to make changes in the ways that the Elites are deployed, but we don't fully understand their battle tactics yet. I believe that there was some footage taken lately, but most of it was taken by the infantry, and the scenes of the Elites in combat are somewhat distant.

So, we are forced to ask directly instead of reviewing solid data."

Morgana laughed, while Karl sipped coffee to hide his smile.

"What's so amusing about that?" The General asked.

Morgana sighed. "Have you ever seen a unit of Elites fighting up close? Not all skills originate at a caster, and many of the movements require enhanced eyesight to properly track. The combat techniques are completely individualized, even if they're the same on paper. In short, I'm not sure that watching will do you much good." "And we're right back at where we started, with the fact that Elites on paper and Elites in the field have nothing in common, as with the assistant Attorney General." General Stonewall grumbled.

"But we can still tell you all about the camp." Karl offered helpfully.

"Alright, let's start with that. I see that the artillery battalion is all off to one side of the line, why is that? In the technical manual, it prescribes that they should be spread down the entire line to increase the effective carpeted area of the bombardment."

Karl had no idea who had chosen that deployment or why, but fortunately for him, they weren't alone in the room.

One of the warrior class professors sat down with them. "Generals, I am Commander Smith, I teach blunt weapons for the Warrior Class Elites, but I am the one who ordered that deployment for the artillery. You see, we defend them with skills, but if we spread them out, we can't have one Elite cover more than one piece of equipment. It is more resource effective to have a small number of powerful Elites defend the artillery than to spread them out and constantly defend fifty different points along the line."

"So, it is a manpower issue. Would sending more Elites help?" General Jackson asked.

Smith shook his head. "No, you're missing the point. The reduced bombardment range is inconsequential to their actual function.

They can still provide suppressive fire when clustered. The primary original reason for spreading them was to reduce losses to enemy artillery. But we have Elites for that now, and they can erect magical barriers to stop incoming artillery, so we don't need to spread them anymore.

In fact, if we were to spread them, we would have to stop defending them for practical reasons, and they would become sacrificial targets in nearly every battle."

"Ah, I see now. So the tactics have already been updated, and Command simply didn't understand the reason. Please continue."