B3 Chapter 49: Bursting with Ideas

Quintus and his men left the gully of orcs behind in a hurry and quickly managed to put a comfortable amount of distance between them—along with a few more collapsed passes. As the threat of pursuit lessened, he allowed the men to slow and briefly regroup. He had a few questions to ask the new arrivals before regrouping with Gaius.

He approached the century of newcomers and received a sharp salute from its centurion in greeting. “Hail, Primus!”

Quintus waved the man at ease. “Good timing. I’m guessing you’re the reinforcements the emperor sent our way?”

“Yes, sir. Although ‘reinforcements’ may not be entirely accurate. I’m told that we’re to rotate out with one of Legatus Gaius’s current centuries and send them back to Novara.”

It was a confirmation of what he’d expected. Not being able to increase their numbers or replenish those who had fallen would be a bit of a blow. But orders were orders. As important as this war effort was, he knew better than to believe it was the only thing that required able-bodied men at the moment.

“How are your men?”

The centurion grinned. “Still fresh. Most were glad to get a bit of action, if I’m being honest. The march here proved relatively uneventful. Aside from some of the wildlife deciding to take a swipe at us occasionally.”

Quintus frowned. “Did this happen often?”

“Not too much, no. So long as we didn’t stray far from one another. But the things are nasty, even despite their low levels. We’re lucky they’re not stronger.”

That was not an issue that Quintus and his group had faced so far. Perhaps it was due to their greater numbers keeping the wildlife at bay, or perhaps the beasts were just getting braver over time. Either way, it could prove troublesome for the group heading back if they weren’t careful.

“I suspect it’s because there’s no orcs around to keep them in check,” a new voice chimed in. “With how few of them we’ve seen, I wouldn’t be surprised if everything else is taking advantage of their absence to reclaim the territory.”

Quintus turned to the figure who had spoken, his frown deepening “Why are you here?”

For some reason, the bard was standing next to the centurion, his purple cloak completely incongruous with the bleak and inhospitable surroundings. Despite the recent combat and what had to have been a long march beforehand, the bard had not forgone his flamboyant manner of dress this time. In fact, he looked to be in far better shape than Quintus expected. He even had a young man behind him as though he was some sort of retainer. Perhaps the centurion had slowed their march to accommodate them?

The Primus Pilus’s mouth pressed into a thin line at the thought. He honestly doubted it. The bard had managed to wiggle his way into the good graces of most Legionnaires. Still, he rather doubted that a Legionnaire would make such concessions, much less a centurion. Especially given that the century had made seemingly good time. If Quintus discovered otherwise, though…

Marcus swept into one of his trademark bows at being addressed. “Greetings, Primus. I have chosen to accompany Spurius here and his century in order to witness the Legion’s deeds firsthand. As you may know, I have made it my personal mission to chronicle the varied conquests and achievements of—”

Quintus was already shaking his head. “If that’s the only reason, then you’re a fool.”

Joining them during Novara’s conquest was one thing. But here? In this wasteland? Surely there was more to the story than that.

The bard gave a knowing smile and tapped the side of his nose. “A fool? No, not quite. A [Fool]’s specialty is in the telling of jokes and the like. And while I do pride myself on my wit, I’ve always found song and story to be my true passion.”

“In truth, Marcus has been an asset thus far,” Spurius interjected in the bard’s defense. “He was the one who drew the orcs away from your position, sir. It seems his persuasive skills allow him to influence those with weak minds.”

That was… troubling. His persuasive nature was something that Quintus had long known about, given how quickly he befriended the men. Quintus himself hadn’t found himself quite as affected, though he admittedly had spent little time around the bard. Still, if he was getting stronger and more capable, it was something to look out for. Perhaps he should even warn Tiberius of the development, if the emperor didn’t know already.

Yet as much as he generally disliked the bard, he had to give the man a bit of grudging respect. He was here, whatever his reasons, in the thick of hazardous enemy territory and even fighting alongside the Legion. That took courage. And given his lack of complaint so far, perhaps he was made of slightly sterner stuff than Quintus had assumed.

Quintus sighed, deciding not to press the matter further. Instead, he returned his attention to more important matters. “You mentioned local monsters moving in on the orcs’ territory. Is this normal?”

Marcus nodded. “Indeed. It’s quite common behavior, especially after an area boss is defeated. Given some time, their levels will be certain to rise as well, as the competition leads to certain monsters standing at the top. Although this does appear to be quite a bit more rapid than I would expect… Then again, I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on such things.”

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“Hmmm.” Quintus mulled over the new information. If that was true, then further travel through the area may prove even more problematic. Not for a force as large as Gaius’s legion, necessarily, but for future centuries and reinforcements sent their way? It was only a matter of time before the monsters decided to try and fight the groups of humans. And even if they failed at first, such attempts could still slow progress or even incur losses.

He set it aside for now. Something to discuss with Gaius.

He turned back to the centurion. “Regardless. While some of our men are worn down, I would not say any are exhausted enough to be obvious choices to send back. Though with this recent engagement, perhaps the Legatus will choose to send one that took the brunt of the losses.”

Spurius grimaced. “Understood. They caught you by surprise, by the looks of it?”

Quintus nodded. “Unfortunately. We were unlucky.”

That wasn’t the entire story. If it were just the orcs on the ground, they would have likely been able to hold out and manage a relatively safe retreat. But the ones that had leapt down from above…

It wasn’t like he hadn’t known such a thing was a possibility. He’d seen the orcs’ antics at the capital, after all. Yet he’d honestly thought that the scouts would have been able to locate the enemy well before they were in position to attempt such a thing. How had they managed to slip by undetected?

He’d have to talk to the scouts, as well, it seemed. But that could wait. In the meantime, a rendezvous with Gaius took priority. It was safe to assume that the enemy now knew of their presence. And if that was the case, Quintus was certain that this assault wouldn’t be the last. Best to regroup with Gaius and the other cohorts that had been combing the land for whatever groups they could pick off.

Once Quintus finished speaking with the centurion and the men had a chance to regroup, they began their march once again. They made slower progress on this leg than before. They had managed to leave the orcs behind, but given the possibility of pursuit, he found it inadvisable to leave a literal road that would lead anyone with eyes directly to their position. For this reason, he had the men focus on suppressing that budding capability of [Warpath] for now. Some of their more stealthily-inclined men worked to conceal the Legion’s tracks as best they could, which was a far more reasonable prospect for a few hundred men than for a few thousand.

Quintus hung back until he stepped alongside the group of engineers. Most of them wore distraught expressions as they marched, thoughts obviously elsewhere. Possibly back with their scuttled creations, if Quintus had to guess.

He cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the lead engineer. “Cornelius. Your creations performed well.”

“Thank you, Primus.” Cornelius sighed heavily. “If only we didn’t have to abandon them…”

The centurion grunted. “How long will it take to produce more?”

The engineer’s expression fell further. “The larger siege engines? Gods, we hadn’t even gotten them far enough to test. Even the sling tubes would take at least a week more to make half a dozen of the things with all of us working at full speed. And that’s without addressing the durability issues and the whole ‘exploding when struck’ issue…”

The man was scowling darkly by the time he was done with his rant. He acted as though the orc attack had been nothing short of a personal one.

The loss of the men’s work was indeed a blow. The chances that they’d be able to give the engineers that much time were slim at best, especially if the enemy decided to strike immediately. Even finding a location that was both hidden and easily defensible had been hard the first time, especially given that it had to be some distance away from the camp. At least, if they wanted to ensure any accidental explosions or too-effective projectiles didn’t end up harming their own forces. But it also gave Quintus an idea.

“The explosion… Do you know what caused it?”

Cornelius waved a hand. “Our best guess is that the tube was still charged with residual energy from the enchantments, enough that the shock of the orc’s blows caused it to destabilize. It won’t be an issue if we can somehow increase the efficiency of the energy used to shoot projectiles, or if we simply discharge them between shots. That might help us make the tubes more durable, as well. Although that might require a complete overhaul of our design…”

“Forget that,” he interrupted. “We won’t have time. Can you replicate the effects? On something smaller than a sling tube, perhaps?”

The engineer blinked. His eyes widened as he realized what Quintus was suggesting. “That… may be possible. It would require a bit of testing, and the resulting constructs would only be single use, but…”

Quintus watched as Cornelius turned to one of the other engineers. “Hey! Aulus! How long did the energy storage construct take you?”

“Eh?” A gruff voice called back. “That thing? That’s the easy part. Turning it into force is the tough one. Why?”

“What if we rip the force part out? Try and make the container explode on its own?”

“The fuck are you on about, Cornelius? You can’t just rip things out like that. You’d have to change the output to some other form, otherwise it won’t take. But…” Aulus paused. “…But we could do it. Maybe.”

“What if we tried to…”

The conversation quickly turned into an incredibly technical one that Quintus had no chance at all of following. But just as he thought that his presence had been forgotten, Cornelius informed him that his proposal was possible, and in a much more reasonable time frame than recreating the siege weapons. Theoretically. How effective these explosives proved to be would be a different matter.

“The amount of energy contained within the stone would vary with the volume of the object, and a higher volume would likely yield a bigger explosion. Which means that a stone of double the radius may provide exponentially more impact. At least, that’s what we suspect. It’s hard to say for certain without testing.”

Quintus nodded. “Interesting. Well. Considering how effective this one was, I suspect these would be a useful tool in our arsenal. Begin working on designs immediately, and inform me about whatever materials you need.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, the engineer fell back in with his brethren, who came alive once more as they began plotting their next inventions. At least it seemed that some positive had come out of all of this. And considering the number of orcs they had to deal with… well, they simply couldn’t have too much firepower, in his opinion.

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