Karl instinctively drew his maul as a shiver of ice-cold energy pulsed in the air behind him.
“Calm down, old man. It’s just me.” Leafa laughed as Karl spun to face her.
“Overlord Leafa? I must say, I wasn’t expecting company in the middle of the day. We were just about to have lunch, would you care to join us?” Karl asked.
“Oh, that sounds lovely. I have a small update for you all, as this compound appears to hold the entire population of the area, plus one of our Generals.
The Overlords are going to spread out over the region, assisting with the cleanup, but also because of a vision the Oracle had last night.
There will be another appearance of the Cyclops and their minions tonight at midnight, and possibly for the next few nights. The fewer powerful people in the region at midnight, the less dangerous the incident will be.
So, I will remain here, while two Council members are in Mitford, and the others are spreading across the country to take care of other duties.
This isn’t the only spot which is having similar issues, but the dates are sporadic, and sending soldiers in advance only makes them worse.” She explained.
“So this is happening all over?” One of the Satyrs asked.
“There have been incidents nearly every day, somewhere in the country. Most of them are not major incidents, but they appear to be influenced by the strength of the residents, as if they were a test of some sort.
This one was the strongest reported so far, and a large part of the city of Mitford was damaged last night. However, the residents took shelter in a number of secure facilities, and the casualties were not as bad as we had feared.
The unified Temple still stands, and there was a Shaman God High Priest there to put a barrier over the building while the guards rallied to help survivors make it there.
This spot was nearly the exact centre of the battle last night, which makes it unlikely to be outside tomorrow’s spawn, even if the boundaries do move a little.
What do we have for barriers?” Leafa replied.
Karl gestured as he answered. “We have Tessa, the War Cleric, with her weapon and armour buffs that can spread over the whole group. Dana, our battle mage, knows some barrier spells, and the best boy in the whole world knows how to spread his defensive barrier to his closest friends.”
He reached down to rub Thor’s head, and the farmers laughed. Thor had saved many lives last night, and his massive bulk made him a formidable force. Even in the face of a charging Giant Boar, he could stand his ground.
Nothing else here, not even the Royal Rank Minotaurs could take that charge and not be knocked over. They had a few suitable boar spears from Karl’s supplies, but not nearly enough for all of the farmers who had come to them last night.
None of the other farms had suitable weapons either, and most had shown up with at least some sort of tool in their hands that could be enhanced by Tessa’s blessing.
At the very least, she was a High Priestess of the War God, and her blessing would put a Commander Rank edge on the tools. That was more than most of the others were going to get.
After a moment of silence, Karl clapped his hands for attention. “Alright, it looks like we know what we’ve got to do for the evening. Get this pig roasted and carved. Make up plenty of rice and oatmeal, so everyone has meals ready when they rotate off the line, clean and mend weapons.
Then everyone needs to get to sleep early except the watch so that we’re all rested at midnight when the next group appears.
That’s when the last one did, so it will most likely be the same tonight.
One or two more days, and it should stop. Then everyone can start rebuilding their lives.”
The farmers nodded grimly and got to work on all the tasks that needed to be done before midafternoon if they were going to get any sleep before midnight.
With so many children and not enough beds, they had to set up tents out in the yard with the help of the tarps that Rae had made for the wagon, and a half dozen others.
The beds were hay, and the blankets were shared, grabbed from every spare that could be found in the nearby houses that were safe enough to go to alone. But it was enough to get all the kids somewhere they could sleep.
Most of the adults would be sleeping anywhere they could find, and then fighting all night. Keeping the kids asleep as long as possible was the goal of the evening, as a horde of terrified children would just make everything more difficult, and if they were exhausted it would be even worse.
Overlord Leafa just watched in amusement as everyone ignored her presence and got to work setting up for the night. Normally, everyone was so formal when a Council member was present that they came to her for every little thing and didn’t do anything without her approval.
But with Karl barking orders at them and the war cleric marshalling people to balance the workload while the Nature Priestess looked after the kids, it was moving more smoothly than even the Fortress staff managed on most days.
She had been right in her assumption. There was something different about that Karl, and it became more obvious by the minute, but she couldn’t see why. He wasn’t using any sort of skill, he wasn’t even more powerful than the strongest of the Minotaurs here. But when he gave directions, everyone just followed them.
There was something else to it, and she would figure it out soon. Her species was skilled with soul magic, as a form of possessed Treants, and borderline undead. So, Overlord Leafa was confident that if he was directly manipulating their minds, she would have seen it.
It would only be a matter of time until she learned what his secret to natural leadership was.
