The Demon King's Paladin Part 2. All Out War.

Chapter 522. Explaining The Next Phase

                                                                      John Ericsson's Point Of View

" We've taken losses in the amount that was expected, a good amount were able to play dead and make it out after allowing the Elves to believe they landed a killing blow thanks to the Magical Devices of the Dark Elves that we've borrowed, though unfortunately, not as many as we were hoping for."

" What is the number of injured that's been able to return, Lieutenant George?"

" 300, out of the 1000 we sent. From what I understand 500 are still fighting..."

" I see. They've returned to base camp, right?"

" Yes, they're here in the medical tents that you ordered to be put up."

" Good, I'll attend to them immediately after we're done here."

It was early in the morning, so early in fact that the sun had just begun to peak out of the horizon. The valley that we were currently sitting in was a good place for our army to sit in. Usually, it'd be bad because of the fact that we're more or less right on the edge of a giant cliff, but with the Dark Elves assistance, we've been able to camouflage the base camp. It made working on my other priorities a bit easier...

" Haaah...."

" Am I keeping you awake, Marquess Drake?"

" No, Lieutenant George, granted, I didn't get much sleep last night, but that's my own fault for failing the previous days to finish my work quota quick enough."

" Work quota? What have you been doing?"

It looks like he now realized that it was only the 2 of us here in my work tent. The tent where I slept with Sarah and Anna was a few feet away from this one, they were still tired from working the night before, so I decided to let them sleep. Of course, they're also being guarded by Ruby and Flare., who I made sure got a good rest last night so they could attend to Sarah and Anna today. But because of how exhausting the work was, all 3 of us were quite tired. Lieutenant George, however, was not informed of what I was doing. To be fair, no one was except for Sarah, Anna and Ruby. Mostly just because I didn't feel like dealing with the arguments from the 3 Lieutenants that have argued with me over everything or the soldiers who didn't trust me. Though, those excuses won't be working with Lieutenant George. I could tell he wasn't going to let this go if I tried to change the subject. Well, might as well tell him, he can't undo what I've done after all.

" I've been slowly hollowing out the area in the valley below us."

" Why would you do that?"

" You can't tell?"

" What?"

" Think for a minute, Lieutenant George. The Elves are coming this way due to the fact that we've sent a 3rd of our men out to serve as bait to bring them closer, we've lost a good number of men already, the Elves should be emboldened by that... Well, at least the ones doing the fighting. They're not the ones we need to worry about, the one I'm concerned about is Garth Fairsword."

" What are you so concerned about? There's been no report that he's entered the battlefield. Only the Sword Master and the Magic Arrow Specialist."

" Yes, that's what's concerning to me. Fairsword is the one in charge, yet he hasn't shown himself yet. That means that he's most likely staying back and getting reports like me. That's an issue, but I can't really do much about it. So instead, I'm focusing on what I can control, and that's ruining the morale that the Elf soldiers have been able to grow with each victory. And the way I've chosen to do that, is to lead them into a trap."