Rey put the spoonful of soup into his mouth and swallowed.
Another spoonful.
It was the plain rations that the frontline soldiers received.
But he didn't mind.
"I see. That's pretty much expected. In fact all of the major houses of the Moradale territories are most probably meeting in Moradale right now."
Rey takes another bite. For a general, he seems just as famished as a rifleman.
"How do we rescue Ria?"
"Thats an odd way to put it. She's not in any kind of mortal danger. She's just stuck behind endless negotiations and paperwork"
"I see."
"Well, I guess you're looking to me if I have a solution?"
"Yes."
Rey took another bite.
Behind Hikari, Ella was licking her front claw.
"I'd be lying if I said that we could fix this ourselves. But hey, given that you are basically a one woman army, I suppose we can figure something out."
Hikari nods.
Rey unrolls a map.
"Lets start from the begining. There's the spire city. There is the Moradale territories which the RazenHeir house is a part of. And then there's the kingdom of Herdial."
He points to each of the locations with his spoon.
"There's a bigger continent out there, but for us, this is the known world."
He takes another bite. As he swallowed, he unrolled another map.
"This is the map of Herdial. In the center, the capital city of Kalaria. In the south, the fortress of Escher where me and my sister live. In the north west, the fortress of Elai. In the North east, the fortress of Elis."
Ella licks her other claw.
"Now, while you were in Escher, you may have noticed that nothing was wrong. That's not true at all for the other two fortresses."
Rey takes another bite before pointing his spoon to the two fortresses.
"The fortress of Elai. The wall facing the dark lands. The fortress of Elis. The wall facing the lands claimed by the red mist. These fortresses had been in a state of war since before you and I were born."
"It's nothing new."
"Indeed, but have you ever wondered why Herdial never joined the Spire alliance? Because it meant that the other territories would have to share the cost of a perpetual war. I don't imagine it was terribly fun for the RazenHeir house to have to send their army and precious knights against the orcs?"
"It wasn't"
"I digress. Munch* Munch*"
Ella licks her hind legs.
"But, sustaining a war indefinitely is impossible for the vast majority of nations. Herdial included. For the longest time, mercenaries made up that difference. Knights, mages. All kinds of warriors from abroad came to Herdial in pursuit of wealth in the dark lands or the corrupted city residing in the red mist."
Munch* Munch*
"They slay monsters which inadvertently fight the war for Herdial. They even gave rise to the monster part processing industry here which led to an economic boon. I assume your lady Ria's plan was to let you loose in either of those places. Even on the low level hunting grounds, I bet you can churn up enough numbers to pay for your spire academy tuition."
"I see."
Rey takes another bite. He chewed thoroughly, before forcing the food down.
"But at some point, their raids stopped becoming as profitable as much of the easy relics had been claimed. The remaining ones had overwhelmingly difficult guardians that kept wiping out raid parties."
Ella pokes at her breasts with her claw.
"The raid industry collapsed. Well, not completely, there are still some who made a living by hunting monsters in the dark lands during the low season. But the Herdial army now has to take on the burden of fighting off the monster waves that were not weakened by raid expeditions."
Ella lowered her head and gave her breasts a sniff.
"So, Herdial lost its major source of income. And they had to take on the burden of funding a war again. Where do we get the money?"
Rey takes another bite. He reaches into his pocket and takes out a rectangular piece of ply wood.
"This." Hikari could see the seal of the Herdial royal house in the corner.
"The Herdial bond. Me and my men just got our pay with this. I'm not sure what I can even buy with this when I return to Escher. I guess you can have it. I got nothing else to give you."
"Why did people buy them?"
"Because they were redeemable in gold. Ostensibly anyway. Not even the workshops of the spire city could mass produce it. I don't believe there is very much left in the royal treasury."
"What happens now?"
"Chaos. Breakdown of trade between Herdial and the Moradale territories. There's nothing cheaper than pieces of plywood. The Moradale houses held much of their reserves in Herdial bonds. Some even speculate on derivative contracts on the Moradale exchange. I hope your lady never gets desperate enough to do that."
"What about my Lady Ria?"
"She'll be stuck in Moradale for a while I'm afraid. Nothing you can do about it. They are going to have to rewrite the whole economic system. The Herdial delegation should have arrived in Moradale by now. More endless paperwork for your lady."
Hikari stared at him quietly. Rey couldn't tell what she was thinking.
She must be quite upset with what he said. It's just that her expression always looked the same with the exception of when she was toying with him.
Ella bent over, she stuck out her long tongue and pushed it in between her breasts. She quickly pulled it back into her mouth.
"Is there nothing we can do?"
Rey scraped the bottom of his mess tin.
"Truth be told. If I were you, I'd be worried about where my next meal is. Food is not getting more expensive because Herdial bonds are worthless. It's because the farmlands around Elai and Elis can't produce enough food when there are constantly monsters leaking past the frontline."
Rey emptied the rest of the soup right into his mouth.
"I see."
"Look, we essentially only need three things to fight a war. Mana crystals. Food. And bullets. Just let your lady and people like me worry about the details. In the end, it all just boils down to producing these three things. Do this and I think we can all survive until next year."
Hikari's eyes widened. Rey shivered as the ruby eyes glowed brightly in the dark.
Ella slithered up to her and licked the underside of her breast.
"I can do that."