CH228 Alex, the Intel Master

***

Exercitus Alexii had made massive progress in their incursion into Wildkin-held western Kellerman territory over the last few weeks. This was thanks to the support of the locals, who not only aided in retaking occupied settlements but also provided vital intel and resources to aid the army's march.

At last, the Taskforce Division arrived within three days' distance of the City of Werth—the epicenter of the Wildkin occupation. This was the final objective the Fury family's forces had to complete in order to fulfill their Guardian Mandate in the Kellerman fief.

Once Werth fell back under Imperial rule, the gateway to the Ironmourn Desert would be sealed. The Wildkin still lingering inside Imperial territory would then become trapped prey, waiting to be hunted down and destroyed.

Yet Exercitus Alexii did not rush to attack.

While the rank-and-file soldiers grew restless to take the city and return home, the higher command only became more solemn.

The campaign to take Werth was never expected to be easy.

The Wildkin were not experts at defending cities, but they were exceptional fighters. Reports indicated that the best of the best among them remained in Werth. Only the useless rabble had been driven out, sent to carve out petty territories of their own.

Over the past weeks, Alex's men had hardly encountered any members of the major Wildkin races. These elites had withdrawn into Werth, fortifying it into an advantageous fortress and battlefield designed to swallow the Fury siege whole.

In the eyes of Alex and the regiment under him, Werth was not merely the last city to reclaim. It was a beast's open maw, waiting for prey to step inside before snapping shut.

No flag officer dared take chances. They sought every scrap of intel, every ounce of preparation, and every conceivable advantage before walking into what was certain to be a long, bloody siege.

That night, as the Taskforce Division set camp, Alex scrolled through his contacts as usual to check in with his networks.

Eventually, he got on a call with Haggleworth, who reported,

"Chairman, we've confirmed the Kellermans have received all the arms they purchased from us. The shipment was broken down and moved to multiple locations, so we couldn't track them all."

"No matter. Did you do as I instructed before the arms were shipped?"

"Yes, it was done."

"Good. Then don't concern yourself with the rest. I'll handle it from here."

"Alright, Mr. Chairman," Haggleworth replied. Then, as if recalling something, he added, "Also, Chairman—Alpha reports he's acquired the Rune Phone ID of Josiah Kellerman, the Kellerman heir. He wants to know if he should forward it to you."

Alex smirked faintly. "Looks like he wants to cut out the middleman and deal with me directly."

"I believe so as well. Blackwater is already up and running, so he's reluctant to stay in contact with anyone who isn't his direct employer. Occupational paranoia, as he says."

"He's right to be cautious," Alex said. "I'd want direct contact too, if not for this damned campaign. Whatever the case, give him my number. Have him send intel to me directly. As for a meeting, the plan doesn't change. We keep it scheduled for after the campaign."

"Understood, sir."

Not long after the call ended, Alex hadn't even found the time to settle down and make use of the information provided by Haggleworth when his BetaBracer's Phone Rune lit up with a new message.

The message was from the inaugural leader of Golden Palace's -and by extension, Alex's- Intel Outfit, Blackwater, codenamed Alpha.

Surprisingly, the message contained simply Josiah Kellerman's Rune Phone ID. Nothing else.

Alex had expected someone so desperate to get in contact would at least include a brief introduction or some form of self-promotion. But no—Alpha sent just the ID.

Amusingly, it only made Alex appreciate this 'Alpha' more.

Now that he had Josiah Kellerman's true phone ID, he could finally track and spy on the Kellerman heir's communications properly.

He had tried to do so earlier, but discovered that the ID listed under Josiah's name was little more than a smokescreen. Like many nobles, Josiah had secretly obtained a second phone under an alias, reserved for his shadier extracurricular dealings.

A few seconds later, OmniRune remotely accessed the secret phone. And as luck would have it, the device was a high-end model with a built-in record function.

Perfect.

Thanks to Alex's own programming, the phone carried a hidden storage section where all calls were automatically recorded before being temporarily cached on the device. Of course, no one—especially not even the user—would ever know this function existed.

Without a shred of hesitation, Alex ordered OmniRune to access and download everything for chatter processing.

There was nearly two months' worth of call recordings sitting there. Alex wasn't about to waste time personally listening to Josiah's idle conversations.

Fortunately, OmniRune could multitask.

While it processed the backlog of recordings, Alex assigned it another task: tracking the arms shipment recently sold to the Kellermans.

After his little parley with Lucas Zell back in Warlton City, Alex had instructed Haggleworth to exploit the Kellermans' frantic procurement drive and sell them a massive bulk of resources, including arms.

First, it helped Golden Palace clear out low-cost inventory Haggleworth's network had acquired dirt-cheap and needed to offload. Such a large transaction agave the company greater legitimacy in the eyes of noble clients, cementing it as a reliable trading house.

Second, it served Alex's greater purpose of draining the Kellermans' financial reserves. If their resource stockpile was ever disrupted, the lack of liquidity would make replenishment much harder. That, in turn, would leave them unable to sustain a war of attrition—forcing them to attempt a blitz campaign, where a single mistake could prove fatal.

Third, the deal tested the waters of Kellerman support. With both Dark Mantle and Alex's Blackwater monitoring their finances, any sudden flow of money to refill the Kellerman coffers would reveal the identities of their secret backers.

And Alex had no doubt—the Kellermans weren't pulling this grand scheme off alone.

But above all else, the shipment carried Alex's Trojan Horse.

While Dark Mantle had narrowed down possible locations of Kellerman supply routes and hidden stockpiles, there was still no certainty in the locations. Instead of waiting for the Kellermans to move, Alex had Haggleworth employ Runesmiths to inscribe special tracking runes on weapons and goods across every shipment.

These weren't ordinary tracking runes used across Pangea. Rather, they functioned more like the communication runes of the Phone Rune itself.

Instead of leaving magical traces that could be detected via specialised detectors, these runes worked on a one-way system—allowing OmniRune to continuously communicate with them, silently transmitting their location through a runic network similar to the one Rune phones used.

A Runic method of GPRS if one were to draw an analogy.

Now that Alex had confirmation the Kellermans had received the shipment, it was time to check where the runes had ended up.

OmniRune projected the runic network map and superimposed it over the northwestern region on the BetaBracer's projector screen.

Alex's eyes widened as the map bloomed across his BetaBracer's projection.

Multiple glowing lines tangled together, forming a web-like logistic network sprawling in and out of Olred's Bend.

It was far more elaborate than he expected.

While this confirmed both his and Allen Holder's suspicions about the town, Alex found himself less pleased than he thought he'd be.

This wasn't the work of amateurs.

A logistics network this sophisticated meant the Kellermans had someone talented—very talented—handling their supply chains.

And Alex wanted that person. Badly!

If not for his "Trojan horse" embedded in the shipments, Dark Mantle would never have unraveled this supply network until long after the conflict was decided.

Even now, staring at the map, Alex had to admit his own limits. He didn't know enough about logistics to break it down alone. And asking other was out of the question.

He couldn't risk either revealing the Intel itself or exposing how he acquired it.

Neither were acceptable options.

'No matter how complicated the network is, it still needs a nexus... a linchpin,' Alex mused. 'An army supply line can't afford to be overly complex on or near the main front. At some point, it all converges—somewhere it becomes simple to follow.

'Find that linchpin, take it out, and the entire supply line collapses.'

That was the path forward.

For now, though, what he could determine was the general flow of resources out of Olred's Bend.

'The shipments are heading toward Fury lands. From the trajectory, the Kellermans have bypassed the East Border Fort. That leaves only one probable entry... just near the Northern Dankrot Fort.

'Dankrot Fort doesn't just hold the forest; it also supports the East Border Fort, together forming a barrier against any incursion from the east.

'If the Kellermans take Dankrot, Fury lands will be exposed—both to them from the northeast, and to threats lurking in the forest itself.

'That's too much ground to defend.'

His expression hardened.

The Fort cannot fall.

Ting!

OmniRune's notification chimed, snapping him out of his thoughts. The chatter-processing was complete.

Among the two months' worth of call recordings on Josiah's phone, one stood out.

--

Recording of Josiah Kellerman's call with his father

"Father, it is done. The Orc Chief attacked Werth."

"I am aware. I am also aware you left behind the Deputy Commander of the City Guard Force."

"Father, someone had to confirm the Chieftain's strength. You know nothing will go well without confirming that."

"Don't treat me like one of your lackeys! You think I don't know you set up Fodel because he stood up to you? Because he didn't kiss your arse like the rest of the imbeciles you surround yourself with?"

"Father, are you really reprimanding me over a dead nobody?"

"A nobody?! Fodel was to be our next Legend, you stupid brat! Why else would I place him at your side? Why else would I trust him to sharpen your awareness?

"And instead of winning him over when the chance was served to you on a silver platter, you had him killed! Idiot! If you weren't better than your remaining useless brothers, I'd skin you alive!"

"Father, I didn't—"

"Why am I cursed with useless sons? Arrogant, foolish and worthless, the lot of you!

"…Haa. What's done is done. At least tell me you learned something from it."

"Yes. The Orc Chieftain leading the invasion… he's at least a Half-Legend."

"In that case, Drake will have no choice but to move if he wants to fulfil his mandate."

"Yes, father."

"Very well. No use crying over spilt milk. Fall back and prepare for when the Fury Army arrives."

"Yes, father."

"And Josiah... for your sake, for all our sakes... you had better not screw this up."

"I won't, father."

***

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