Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 74: Pondering the Aftermath

Daniel watches from the ramparts of the Citadel as the golems face off against the second wave of the invading attack. He learned this very morning that they hadn't actually ended the invasion, yet, because they had captured the general and his officers on the first day, but were more focused on Daniel's recovery the second day, especially once he woke up.

The sounds of rifle shots reach him, even as far away as they are, though the golems are firing to wound, since the soldiers refused to give up yet, thanks mostly in part to mid-rank and lower officers keeping the invasion going.

Daniel knows, deep down, that it's difficult to force surrender without killing vast portions of the enemy army, especially in an era like this one. By making a showing of not killing them, the enemy will only begin to believe that the defenders are bluffing.

Now, as per his instructions of slow escalation, they are wounding the soldiers and dragging those the golems capture back to be contracted and forcibly returned east. It'll be a drain on the Citadel's resources, but if they won't turn back otherwise, Daniel will have to figure something else out.

He wishes he knew all of the controls and safeties that went into the nuclear reactors he worked on. He knows the basic idea of almost all of them, as that was part of his training. He doesn't remember every little component, let alone how they're assembled. And, as much as he might want to, having blueprints for something like that on his phone -however he would have obtained them- would have had him on watch lists at best back on Earth.

So, he'll have to settle for trying to make electrical power with either wind, solar -if he can identify the proper materials without the technology needed to really work with them-, or hydroelectric. But, the nearest river with enough motion to scale with the Citadel is a few miles away. And, even then, finding a way to make a hydroelectric dam without a difference in altitude will be tricky. Not to mention costly.

Thankfully, the modest population of the Fievegal are content with the Fievegal so far. Daniel makes a point of not trying to draft them, though he may talk to them about the upcoming battles to capture Fort Twilight, and then man it. The golems can easily conquer the castle, but the further out from the Citadel they are, the less efficient they are on mana. For small strike teams and escorts, it's feasible enough, since they can be recharged when they return and are replaced with other golems.

For a massive invasion force numbering over 100,000 -or, even more than that, considering they'll be attacking a fortress-, the cost of switching out the golems will very quickly drain much of the stockpile of mana that makes the Citadel so superior. Unlike living beings, which recover mana on their own the way they recover stamina throughout the day and after resting, the Citadel must absorb mana through the deaths of attackers in close proximity or within its walls, or receive donations of mana through special devices. So far, the only devices for making offerings are installed in the town surrounding the Citadel, and they're working on modified ones to make tidings remotely, which charges magic crystals that are easy to transport to the Citadel for delivery. Ideally, these tasks will be carried out by living workers to minimize the mana cost of retrieving mana donations.

Since the magical energy transfers are the only form of 'taxes' the Fievegal is collecting for now, the citizens are happy to pay it, but it's difficult for the towns that were further out to make the trip every day to make their offerings, and impractical for Daniel to expect them to.

Some part of him ponders keeping the captured soldiers as prisoners of war and using the contract to force them to make contributions every day. It's against what he wants to accomplish as a leader, but he also recalls various teachings of books and wisdom he picked up over his life.

One of the most prominently referenced in talking about leadership -and applicable to many areas of life- would be Machiavelli's The Prince, where he makes the argument that if it comes down to being feared or loved, it's better to be feared in terms of leadership.