Chương 271: Day Two Hundred And Sixty-Nine

Dear Diary, I suppose one of the biggest problems with being super talented at anything is not really being able to explain every bit of how you do everything to anyone else, which kinda sucks if you think about it. Like, okay, I get that just about everybody who is really super good at something has put in the time and effort to practice it. But talent is a thing too. No fuckin' way I'm gonna outswim Phelps in the water or outshoot Jordan on the court.

Frankly, I don't think I'd ever be able to, even if I did put in the same amount of time at it. Oh, I might get good, really good, if I did it as much as they did, but I wouldn't be as good as them, because they've just got some natural advantages. Like, Jordan is like six and a half feet tall. I'm tall for a girl, but not WNBA tall. I'd have to have significantly more earned skill than him to even give him a workout, y'know? That's not even getting into how talent can make learning easier.

Yeah, I know, being talented means you've got to constantly seek out tougher challenges to really shine, but part of being talented, at least for me, is a kind of intuitive feel for how things should and shouldn't go, y'know? Like, my knack for wrecking people's shit definitely helped out when learning swordplay, Translocation and Co-Location combat, and even picking up new bits and pieces of Close Quarters Combat. The most devastating thing to do to somebody just... I dunno... feels right.

In a way, the same thing applies to threatening people. The scariest, meanest, most hurtful thing just kinda feels right in my mouth when it's coming out. Or in my brain before I send it to my mouth? Whatever. Like I said, I've got a knack, and I can't really explain why I do what I do. Funny, I think that's a bit of 'opposites attract' between Saffron and I. Everything she does is planned out to a fare thee well. Like, in intricate detail, with multiple branching paths to success.

Fucking adorable Xanatos Speed Chess Master, and all in an adorably fuckable package. Of course, when I let my mind wander on that, I might wind up the tiniest bit terrified, because she's said more than once that she's keeping score and will get even. Like, I love her and trust her and know that whatever she winds up planning, I'll absolutely love it, but at the same time I might not want to admit that at the time. Or ever. To anyone except her and maybe Marie.

Wait, she's said the same thing about Marie, which makes me wonder if Marie is terrified of that comeuppance as well. I mean, she's a seven foot tall immortal fucking killing machine, what exactly is she going to be afraid of? Don't answer that. Psychopomps and undead are enough new fucked up information for me for the month. I've met my quota. So yesterday our Strategy and Tactics class wound up planning out a full campaign to cleanse Calverton City.

Honestly, I got a little bored by like half an hour in, so I pled convalescence and just answered questions. A few notable things came up though. First of all, apparently my memory has been getting better. Like, I don't actually remember shit like schedules or birthdays or anything, but the moment somebody asks me for a fact about something I observed? Plonk, the info is just there. I'm guessing my Memory Attribute went up at some point, maybe?

Shit, maybe it's some kind of Mimic thing, where she's just storing everything I ought to remember, but doesn't tell me unless somebody else asks. Don't ask me how it works. As noted, I'm a clue free zone. Second thing, I've apparently accidentally not just created the first non-Heroic semi-permanent military unit in Phileo City, I've created the first two. The second one came up when we were talking about what military forces to send.

Cadet Smith, who'd transferred into the class for some unknown reason, announced, "we obviously can't send Levies, Soldiers, or Volunteers into Calverton if there are undead there." At that point I got a bug up my ass and forced my jaw to comply long enough to say, "why not?" She just rolled her eyes and said, "undead are notorious for their ability to transfer their state onto others they slay.

While some of that can be impeded by rapid proper burial rites for those slain, it contraindicates taking fodder along, since they'll just wind up reinforcing the enemy." I sucked my teeth a little before replying, "I'm not one to consider anybody 'fodder'. Saffron's unit helped kill two New Amsterdam Heroes during their night raid, and my Dragonslayers took down a few of the rogue Calverton Heroes on their own.

I mean, it took a unit of them to do it each time, but I'd say that marks them as 'less capable', not 'incapable', am I right?" My jaw wasn't happy, but fuck it. Worth. She just stared at me for a second.

"Dragonslayers?" Saffron came to my rescue.

"The Volunteer units which made up the Phileo Expeditionary Force to Lancaster House. During the march to Lancaster House, they confronted and took part in killing four wyverns and a full grown Ice Dragon." Funny, maybe Cadet Smith had some Lancaster in her, because she certainly managed the rectal kumquat look pretty fuckin' well.

"Yes, well, I'm sure they were supporting Heroes, yes?" Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Saffron smiled and shook her head.

"No Heroes were available for that force. Cadet Diaz commanded the expedition, and while I personally fired the shot that killed the Dragon, it was wounded to the point of being grounded by massed crossbow fire before I arrived. Also, at least one of the Wyverns was felled entirely by massed crossbow fire." Cadet Smith nodded.

"I suppose the new weapons do make them significantly more dangerous, but one of the other major factors in facing the undead is that in large masses, they create a miasma of death around them which gradually saps the strength of anyone not able to resist it the way a Phileo Hero would." I definitely owed Saffron something nice; her next answer was, "yes, however that is a Mana effect. Most Heroes would do something like placing a Mana Ward over any bivouac site before resting.

The Dragonslayers, thanks to Commander Diaz' foresight, are to a Volunteer armored in Dragon Hide, which substantially increases their ability to shrug off Mana based effects." Credit where it's due, Smith didn't go on a rant about giving Volunteers top tier equipment. Instead she just cocked her head and said, "how resistant are they?"

"Two units were at point blank range of a Calverton Mage's fireball and survived with no appreciable injury to any of them." Smith's surprise at that was pretty obvious, but she just said, "I suppose that would be enough to resist the effects of undead miasma. How many Dragonslayers are there?"

"Three hundred," I answered.

"In twenty units. Every Phileo Hero can put up Mana Wards, right?"

"Yes, love." Saffron answered.

"Okay then, a lot of what our army in Calverton will wind up doing is clearing buildings, like house-to-house, right?" At nods from duBois, Smith, and Saffron, I said, "okay, then in a way it's a little like the plague; we're gonna want a cordon. So bring enough Volunteers or whatever to make that cordon, which is basically just gonna be holding the ground our Heroes have cleared, right?"

"How will we feed that many?" Smith's question annoyed me, but it wasn't really a bad one. Just something I hadn't thought of. My talent is fucking shit up, not making things unfuckable. Thing is, I had an answer.

"What about using the Quartermaster and his fleet to ferry supplies? Calverton is right on the bay, yeah?"

"Quartermaster?" Marshall duBois stepped in and said, "a clever innovation by Cadet Diaz during the war against New Amsterdam. A fleet, mostly of former fishing vessels, which ferried supplies to the closest point to the front lines. Cleared up quite a bit of our supply problem, to the point that it never became a real issue. Definitely worth implementing, even if we don't send too many non-Heroes."

"Cool. Uh, I'm not sure about New Amsterdam's Levies, but a lot of Calverton's Heroes, including most of the rogues, were outfitted with Cold Iron armor and weapons. I'm pretty sure we could get that re-forged into something protective enough to cover some of their Soldiers, right?" Saffron nodded, but before she could say anything Smith asked, "why in the name of all that's holy did they outfit themselves with Cold Iron?

I mean, you're right, enough Cold Iron for that would clearly outfit a fair number of Soldiers, but... why? I know Phileo's Heroes are more capable Mages than most others, but even so."

"That would be Commander Diaz." When Smith looked at Saffron with confusion, she explained, "Tabitha's Mana Blades. They cut through anything short of Mana-disruptive materials like it wasn't there, and apparently Ares had informed Calverton's leadership about who won the Battle of the Walls."

After that, shit kinda devolved to everybody sorting out how many Heroes needed to stay back to guard the borders, how many would be needed to back up the local Guards for police work, and how many that left able to go clean out Calverton. They also asked me about how much Cold Iron Calverton brought, and while I had no fucking clue when it came to ounces or pounds or stone, I surprised myself by listing out each and every item that I'd faced or seen. By the end of the day, they had a plan all laid out.

Kinda impressive what a dozen people working together can accomplish given sixteen hours and a goal. Also, it seems like my delivery lunch is gonna be tempura and sushi from here on out. Marie decided, and I'm sure as shit not gonna argue with her. Last night, Mimic stargazed and tried to ignore the smell. In the morning, I actually wound up feeling pretty good.

Not one hundred percent by any means, but I managed to step us all down to lunch and up to Advanced Mana Shaping without doing more than winding myself, although I did use my cane a bit while walking. Given a week of me carrying it everywhere just in case, it had kinda become a fashion statement, I guess. Just another 'weird Diaz thing'. Biggest surprise of the day? Cadet Smith coming over and asking me, politely mind you, to demonstrate how to Shape a Mana Blade.

I shrugged and popped out a six inch long one from my pointer finger. She just kinda stared, her expression a mix of awe, terror, and disbelief.

"How do you keep up that kind of Mana flow?" I shrugged again.

"I dunno. It's not that big of a deal, I guess. I think the only time I've even noticed was when I was already kinda beat and maintaining a few thousand of them at once. Even then, the injuries and Co-Location feedback were a bigger deal." When she just blinked at me, I said, "Battle of the Walls. Most of my scars are from there."

Smith just blinked, like somehow she'd forgotten that I was indeed the psycho bitch in the red dress that killed off most of New Amsterdam's Hero population over the course of a few bloody minutes. After that she turned to Doc Roberts.

"Has anyone managed to replicate that in a form that doesn't require that level of Mana output?" Doc looked and said, "I've tried a couple methods, and I believe Archmage Aetos has a working one as well." Saffron smiled, extended a short sword sized Blade from the back of her wrist, and added, "my Goddess supplies me with the Mana to use a variation on the original, but I did in fact create two other versions, and I'd be happy to demonstrate the more Mana efficient for you."

Saffron and I spent most of the rest of the day demonstrating Mana Blades for the rest of the class. By the end of the class, I think at least three of them, including Cadet Smith, had decided on 'Efficient Mana Blade' or something similar for their Project. So weird to have people saying, 'I'm gonna try to do that better than you,' is maybe one of the biggest compliments they can give in this class.