There were far fewer Clerics in the dining hall than there had been the last time that Karl was here, and the room looked almost empty, while the lower ranked dining hall had only been half filled when he had passed by.
That was a testament to how much of their membership had gone to war, as the Capital Cathedral was one of the bastions of the faith, where most of the residents were researchers, theorists and essential staff to record keeping.
The dining hall was silent as the food was brought around, but in a remarkable break from their usual rules and decorum, once it was served, the Clerics began to talk and shift between tables.
A number of them brought their food over to the table where Karl and Morgana were seated with Monk Chen. The rest of the group had split up at the table behind them, as they wouldn’t all fit at one, but even then, Karl noticed that there was shuffling, and both Bob and Doug shifted to a third table full of clerics.
“Well, this is new.” Karl noted quietly.
The Clerics who had just sat down nodded in unison.
“It’s our chance to get news, and we will all be rotated to the front soon, when they release more of the wounded from the hospital. We heard that you were on the Frost Giant front before you were sent to the recovery wing.” A dark-haired Blue Dragon Priest replied.
“Yeah, the Frost Giant border has calmed down significantly. They suffered a disaster as their actions broke a number of imprisoned dragons free of their confinement. There was a large volcanic eruption as well, thanks to an angry Magma Dragon. It’s just a general mess all along that front, but not nearly as dangerous as it had been, just cold.” Karl replied.
The Blue Dragon Priest wrote notes and nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what we have been hearing from everyone. Do you know where you’re going next?”
“The Hill Giant border. From what I’m told, they need all the Commanders that they can get to keep the incursion under control, and I have been accused on at least one occasion of being enthusiastically competent at that.” Karl replied.
Morgana chuckled. “Well, that’s one way to put it. The Academy is sending all its Ascended and higher students to the front lines for a training mission. There will be teachers there to keep up with their course work, and to help provide a measure of safety for our next generation of Elites.
Wow, it feels strange saying that when I just graduated and some of them are only a year behind me.”
The Clerics sighed at the news that they weren’t the only ones running short on staff. If the Academy was mobilizing en masse, then the rest of society wouldn’t be far behind. The elites had been living a pretty good life, and many of them were the sort of rich and famous that most could only dream about.
However, when it came down to it, they still had a duty, and that was to keep themselves and everyone around them alive.
The cleric across from Karl nodded. “I will be going there as well. Most of the ones here now will be going to the Frost Giant front, as they’ve already shipped out the High Priests, but I got the draw to go to visit the Hill Giants.”
Karl smiled at him. “You’ll like it better. The other border has terrible weather, and a little bird tells me that we can celebrate my birthday with a bonfire.”
Morgana gave Karl a suspicious look. “Is that code for Hawk wants to see if the Hill Giants burn as well as the Frost Giants?”
Karl shook his head. “They don’t. We already tried, and it’s better to bury them. But everyone likes a good birthday party, right?”
“Well, if your birthday is next week, we might not even be settled into the lines yet.” Morgana replied.
“How is that? It’s only a few hours helicopter flight from here, I know, we were almost to the Hill Giant’s portion of the border when we flew back.” Karl asked.
“They have been shooting down our helicopters. Once they learned that trick, it became too dangerous to land near the border, so it’s either land in a safe spot and walk most of a day to the mission location, or go in by bus.
The bus was the obvious choice, since we can’t walk in with an entire line’s worth of supplies, so we’re doing to have a few days worth of driving, and possibly more if there are monster attacks or bad weather.
That’s also why you don’t see many wounded Elites from the Hill Giant front at the hospital here. They’re recovering at a triage hospital closer to the border, instead of flying them all the way back.” The cleric explained.
That was better than what Karl’s mind had conjured up. When things got really bad, there weren’t any wounded to send anywhere. They simply didn’t make it back.
“Do you know what they’re doing for deployments with the students? I’m sure with that many of them in one region, they’ll be coming up with something to keep them safer than usual.” Karl asked the others at his table.
Morgana nodded. “From what I’ve been told, they are planning double deployments, ten where it calls for five and so on, along with an extra commander for every enhanced group that leaves the base.”
That wasn’t necessarily better. Larger groups would attract more attention everywhere that they went. But the extra Commander was a brilliant move if they could spare them.
They must have only left the Ascended Rank teachers at the Academy for the Common Grade and Awakened students that had been left behind, which would be an interesting event on its own, but there still weren’t all that many Commander Rank teachers in the Academy.
They taught large groups of students, and had their assistants help out with the individual issues, there was far from enough to send one with every ten students.
Or perhaps, they weren’t planning to send all that many of them out to begin with? If they were only going to allow three or four groups out of the camp at a time, then it would be feasible, and the majority of the students would be with whatever army reinforcements or other Elites had been sent to their location.
Tactically, that made a lot of sense, but to Karl and the others in his group, it sounded horribly dull.
If they were going to be stuck in a camp at the border, they might as well be at the Academy. They wouldn’t really be doing anyone any good, just sitting around all day. Even if there were attacks on the front lines, they had always been minimal, at least on the Frost Giant front, while the artillery did all the heavy lifting for them.
He could keep up a barrier over the group without any real issues, unless they were either using Royal Rank attacks, or repeated Commander Rank artillery strikes.
It would be better, both for him and for Thor, if it didn’t come to simply tanking the artillery, but if they had to, they could, at least for a while.
“So, when do the buses leave in the morning? It doesn’t sound like we’re getting a flight, and I’m hoping the answer is early.” Karl asked the others at the table.
The Golden Robed priest sitting next to Morgana nodded. “Yeah, right after breakfast. The replacements for the Clerics who are being shifted out will be here by then, so it should be a smooth transition, and then a very long drive.
The roads have been improved all the way to the border, in anticipation of extra traffic, but the wilderness is always unpredictable.
Maybe, if you’re lucky, you will get on the train most of the way there, and then a bus for the last fifty kilometres or so to the border. That would be much better. I know I will be flying, but that’s because I’m going to the Frost Giant border.”
“Did you pack warm? You are certainly going to want something thick and fur, not just the cold weather gear that they issue. Trust me, it’s terrible, and everyone fighting on the Frost Giant front does their best to get a replacement for it as soon as they can.” Karl explained.
“I will make a note of it. We have thicker cloaks and robes in the store rooms, but the border is supposed to be starting to return to normal temperatures.”
Morgana smiled. “Starting is the operative word there. Given a few more months, you shouldn’t need it. But this week, you’ll be thankful for it.”
